The Unfortunate Job of Sawa in the Country of Hearts (UJSCH)
by The Marshmallow Fairy
Summary: Ace gets a squire. Bad for the squire... Or Ace himself? Sawa's annoying, demanding and violent. The only one who can control her is /Blood's/ squire, Wren! Nightmare even gets a girlfriend... DRAMEDY/ROMENTURE! New roles and more depth on the HNKNA universe! Implied and actual yaoi scenes(later)! DISCLAIMER: I don't own HNKNA or its characters (or are related to it in any way).
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

All in the golden afternoon

Full leisurely we glide;  
For both our oars, with little skill,  
By little arms are plied,  
While little hands make vain pretense  
Our wanderings to guide.

Ah, cruel Thee! In such an hour,  
Beneath such dreamy weather,  
To beg a tale of breath too weak  
To stir the tiniest feather!  
Yet what can one poor voice avail  
Against three tongues together?

Imperious Prima flashes forth  
Her edict 'to begin it' -  
In gentler tone Secunda hopes  
'There will be nonsense in it!' -  
While Tertia interrupts the tale  
Nor _more _than once a minute.

Anon, to sudden silence won,  
In fancy they purse  
The dream-child moving through a land  
Of wonders wild and new,  
In friendly chat with bird or beast -  
And half believe it true.

And ever, as the story drained  
The wells of fancy dry,  
And faintly strove that weary one  
To put the subject by,  
'The rest next time -' 'It _is _ next time!'  
The happy voices cry.

Thus grew the tale of Wonderland:  
Thus slowly, one by one,  
Its quaint events were hammered out -  
And now the tale is done,  
And home we steer, a merry crew,  
Beneath the setting sun.

Alice! A childish story take,  
And with a gentle hand  
Lay it where Childhood's dreams are twined  
In Memory's mystic band,  
Like pilgrim's wither'd wreath of flowers  
Pluck'd in a far-off land.

_Child of the pure unclouded brow  
And dreaming eyes of Wonder!  
Through time be fleet, and I and thou  
Are half a life asunder,  
Thy loving smile will surely hail  
The love-gift of a fairy-tale._

_I have not seen thy sunny face,  
Nor heard thy silver laughter;  
No thought of me shall find a place  
In thy young life's hereafter -  
Enough that now thou wilt not fail  
To listen to my fairy-tale._

_A tale begun in other days,  
When summer suns were glowing -  
A simple chime, that served to time  
The rhythm of our rowing -  
Whose echoes live in memory yet,  
Though envious year would say 'forget.'_

_Come, hearken then, ere voice of dread,  
With bitter tidings laden,  
Shall summon to unwelcome bed  
A melancholy maiden!  
We are but older children, dear,  
Who fret to find our bedtime near._

_Without, the frost, the blinding snow,  
The storm-wind's moody madness -  
Within, the firelight's ruddy glow,  
And childhood's nest of gladness.  
The magic words shall hold thee fast:  
Thou shalt heed the raving blast._

_And though the shadow of a sigh  
May tremble through the story,  
For 'happy summer days' gone by,  
And vanish'd summer glory -  
It shall not touch with breath of bale  
The pleasance of our fairy-tale._

-both poems by Lewis Carroll, taken from _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland _and _Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There._

* * *

_Once upon a time there was a girl who fell into a rabbit-hole. Or we suppose that she fell, she may have been pushed or dragged. Maybe she never went into the rabbit hole, falling or otherwise. Which, we will never know. But her tales are recorded in the lovely book, _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, _and the sequel, _Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There.

_But why have these books been so popular, if they seem like utter nonsense to the adults that buy them? Is it because we all have fallen down a rabbit-hole ourselves, and have simply never told anyone? Maybe this is the case. But I will tell you now: This is not the true story of Alice. When she came out the other end of a rabbit-hole, she did not find herself in a room, and a bottle with the label 'drink me' on a table, oh no. She arrived at the top of a tower, and was forced to drink the contents of the bottle by a man with rabbit ears._

_Now, you would assume - and probably are assuming – that I will start our story with, 'When Alice fell onto the top of the tower, she was amazed to find that she was not hurt.' Or something of the like. You have assumed wrong. Alice does not arrive at the beginning at the story, nor does she stay there until the end. This starts as the story of another girl, Paige. She also falls down a rabbit-hole, quite by accident, I may add. Now how many of you have assumed that Paige will be our main character? Most of you, I bet. Humans from this place called 'Earth' assume things very quickly. _

_Now, you're probably wondering, so who is our main character? Well, I'll tell you. It's neither Alice nor Paige, although those two are important characters. Our story follows myself, Ace, the Knight of Hearts, and my Squire, Sawa. Although the story is about is, it does not follow us for the while time. Sometimes it strays to other points of view, like most stories do. And I might stress that those points are view are just as important, if not more, than my point of view and Sawa's. _

_Now, I already know the ending to this unfortunate tale. I must warn you, if you don't have the slightest interest in romance, heartbreak, battles and secrets (not to mention marshmallows), then this may not be the tale for you. I'm sure there's still a copy of _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland _in your local bookshop if you prefer something more innocent. _

_But for those of you who are determined to stay until the end, I have one thing to say: After this tale has ended, you will never look at a deck of cards (or a packet of marshmallows, for that matter) the same way again._


	2. Wrong Direction

The knight woke to the sound of birdsong. 'Hello, birds. How long have I been sleeping?' He said with a yawn. A bird chirped a response. 'What's that, bird? I've slept for three time changes? Oh well. At least I didn't get woken up by Sawa.' the knight remembered with a sigh the previous day, and how he was violently woken up by his squire, demanding for him to train her to be as strong as he was.

The knight stood up and got dressed, making sure that his sword was undamaged and in its sheath. He rolled up the sleeping bag and packed up the tent, and started walking in a random direction.

'Why don't people have signs around the place telling you where places are?' he huffed. 'Not everyone has an excellent sense of direction.' He chuckled. 'Actually, everyone does. Except for me. Why couldn't the Gamemaster give me a good sense of direction? "Oh no," they would have said, "Don't give Ace a good sense of direction. Then we can all laugh at him." Well, I like getting lost. I don't have to deal with Sawa, not for a few time changes at least.'

Ace was right, at least partly. He didn't find his way out of the forest or bump into anyone for another two time changes.

So, two time changes later, Ace bumped into someone, or more accurately, someone bumped into him. It was a young woman, a pretty one at that, with chestnut-brown waist-length hair and blue eyes. Simply by looking at her, Ace could tell that she was taller than Sawa (most people were), but she was still a head or so shorter than he was.

'Why hello there!' Ace said happily. 'It's not often that a Hatter's maid bumps into me while I'm lost in the forest!'  
'Hatter's… Maid? The girl looked confused.  
'Yes, you're wearing the uniform.'  
'I'm not a maid for the Hatter.'  
'I realized that.'  
'How?'  
Ace sighed. Wasn't this obvious? 'Because you have a face, that's why.'  
'What do you mean, I have a face…? Of course I have a face, everyone does!' The girl didn't appear to be lying.

Ace suddenly realised something. 'You're an outsider, aren't you?'  
'An outsider…? Yes, I think that's how Mr Dupre described me.'  
'Mr Dupre? You mean Blood? Why did you talk to him? He's dangerous.'  
'I talked to him after I woke up on his territory, I didn't really have much of a choice. Anyway, he didn't seem too dangerous, he was quite nice actually.'  
'Well, obviously you didn't like him that much; otherwise you wouldn't be talking to me.'  
'The Hatters were a bit violent for my taste.'  
'Oh, fun, another non-violent outsider. Just what the Country of Hearts needs.'

Just then, a short girl dropped out of a nearby tree. She has long, blonde hair, and a red coat similar to Ace's, except it was about half the size. 'Ace! Finally. I found you. Don't get lost!'  
'Sawa!' Ace said happily.  
'Hi Ace, who's this?' Sawa asked, looking at the girl.  
Before Ace was able to respond, the girl stepped forward. 'Hello, I'm Paige.'  
'She's an outsider, that's how she has a face.' Ace explained.

'Who's this?' Paige asked Ace.  
'This is Sawa, my girlfriend!' Ace lied and put an arm around Sawa before kissing her cheek.  
Sawa blushed and pushed Ace away. 'I'm not your girlfriend! Stop saying that!'  
'If you're not his girlfriend, then what relation do you have to Ace?'  
'I'm his squire…' Sawa said darkly.  
'She hates me.' Ace happily explained.  
'So if she's your squire, that makes you a knight, correct?'  
'Yes! I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself before. I'm Ace, a knight at Heart Castle, so I work for the Queen.'

Quite suddenly, it was dark. An owl flew overhead, spooking Paige. 'H-How did that happen?!'  
'Instead of fixed day and nights, we have time changes,' Sawa explained. 'A time change can be for any length of time, from half an hour to hours on end.'  
'Oh,' Paige simply said.  
'You'll get used to it after a while. Alice did.' Ace said. 'And Julius explains things better than us. We'll take you to him tomorrow.' He unpacked the tent, laying out three sleeping bags. 'Good thing I carry a spare!'

'Is he always this optimistic…?' Paige asked Sawa.  
'Yes….. It gets really annoying….. Really quickly…..' Sawa said with a sigh.  
'Poor you.' Paige said with a smile before getting into her sleeping bag and quickly drifting off to sleep.

Ace took off his coat and shirt and yawned before getting into his sleeping bag. 'Sawa, I order you to stay here, in the tent, and sleep in that sleeping bag.' Ace motioned to the third sleeping bag.  
'But why?!' Sawa exclaimed. 'I'm perfectly fine with sleeping outside!'  
'Sawa, that's an order.'  
'Turn around!' Sawa demanded.  
Ace turned around, and Sawa took off her uniform and put on one of Ace's shirts, which went down to her knees. She wore it as a nightgown.

'Good night, Sawa,' Ace said with a yawn.  
Sawa muttered something rude about Ace before getting into her sleeping bag and falling asleep, dreaming of marshmallows and fighting awards.

About an hour later, the Incubus floated into the tent, invisible, and watched the three of them sleep. 'They all look so innocent and peaceful sleeping,' He said with a chuckle. 'You would never guess what hardships the three of them have gone through.'

A second person floated into the tent, invisible, but she was no incubus. This person was a girl, a bit taller and older than Paige. She looked similar to the outsider, except that her eyes were green, not blue, and she had brown cat ears and a tail. Her face softened when she saw Ace sleeping so peacefully.

'Neko-chan.' the Incubus greeted her. 'I didn't expect to see you out of my realm.'  
'Lord Nightmare, I apologize for breaking the rules, but I had to see him.' Neko-chan responded, daring the Incubus to punish her for what she had done.  
'Then why not see him in his dreams, where you could talk to him?'  
'I feel better seeing his physical form.' Neko-chan said softly, gently sitting on the edge of Ace's sleeping bag. Ace twitched in his sleep. 'And I wanted to see his squire and the outsider.'

The Incubus chuckled.  
'What?' Neko-chan demanded. 'Do you find me amusing?'  
'Obviously.' The Incubus replied. 'And you do know that the knight has feelings for his squire?'  
Neko-chan's expression became unreadable. 'Yes,' she whispered. 'Yes, I do.'

'Are you going to do anything about it?' the Incubus asked.  
'I can't. My powers are not that strong.' Neko-chan explained flatly.  
'But if they were?' The Incubus asked, interested.  
'You don't need to ask, you can read my thoughts.' Neko-chan responded, annoyed.  
'I won't be able to for much longer.' The Incubus admitted.  
This caused Neko-chan to smile. 'I know,' she said, then frowned. 'The Gamemaster will do something about that, won't they?'

The Incubus was silent for a moment. 'Yes,' he eventually responded. 'Yes, the Gamemaster will do something when your powers exceed mine. It may be a good thing, it may be a bad thing, you'll simply have to wait.'  
'And wait I shall.' Neko-chan responded. 'But I will not let the Gamemaster do something to me if harms Ace in any way, shape or form.'  
'You may not be able to keep that promise,' the Incubus warned. 'The Gamemaster is much stronger than anyone, and she will crush anyone that gets in her way.'  
'She?!' Neko-chan exclaimed. 'The Gamemaster is female?'  
'Yes, and a pretty one at that.' The Incubus responded with a sigh.

Neko-chan looked at the Incubus curiously. 'Does Lord Nightmare have feelings for the Gamemaster?'  
The Incubus ignored the question and floated out of the tent. 'Come, Neko-chan, we must go.'  
Neko-chan kissed Ace's cheek before floating out of the tent after the Incubus. 'Goodbye,' she whispered. 'I'll see you again, someday.' And by the time that the first few rays of sunlight broke through the canopy of leaves, the Incubus and the woman had faded away, back to the Incubus's realm of shadows and darkness.


	3. The Angry Marshmallow Fairy

Ace woke up the next day the way he did the majority of the time these days: violently and loudly.

'AAAAAACE! WAKE! UP!' Sawa literally jumped onto his stomach.  
'Ow! Dammit, Sawa, stop it! I'm awake, okay? I'm awake!' Ace shoved Sawa off of him. 'Was that necessary?!'  
'Yes, it was, because if I try wake you up any other way you ignore me and continue sleeping.' Unfortunately, Sawa had a point.

'Well, I'm awake now.' Ace placed a hand on the spot on his cheek where Neko-chan had kissed him in his dream. _I wish I was still dreaming,_ he thought. _Stupid Sawa. _  
'I HEARD THAT THOUGHT!' Sawa yelled from the tent entrance, where she had stated toasting marshmallows for breakfast. 'I'M NOT STUPID!'  
Ace cursed. He forgot, yet again, that Sawa could literally read his mind because of their connection as squire and boss. 'YOU ARE IF YOU THINK THAT MARSHMALLOWS ARE A BREAKFAST FOOD!' Ace retorted.  
'BUT THEY ARE!' Sawa protested.  
Ace sighed. There was no point in arguing with Sawa about something like this.

He pulled on his shirt and coat and went outside, where Sawa was eating marshmallows, and occasionally giving one to Paige who was sitting next to her. Sawa had put on her regular clothes, and his shirt was nowhere to be seen.

'Can I have a marshmallow too?' Ace asked.  
'No.' The answer was always the same.  
'Please?'  
'Give me one good reason why I should give you some of MY marshmallows.'  
'Because you're a wonderful and kind person and I can make you do something that you don't want to do if you don't.'  
Sawa gave Ace a burnt marshmallow.  
'Thank you.' It would do for the moment. 'So,' Ace said, trying to pick the burnt bits off to see if there was any unburnt marshmallow, 'we're going to the Clocktower to see Julius, correct?'

'We're going to Heart Castle first.' Sawa said. 'I want to check on Determination.'  
Determination was Sawa's black stallion, who was way too big for Sawa but neither of them really minded.  
'Sure. I'd like to see Positivity, anyway.'  
Positivity was Ace's grey mare, who he had known since she was just a filly.

'Can I come too?' Paige asked.  
'Sure.' said Ace with a smile. 'If you could talk to Sawa and convince her that I'm not such a horrible person, that'd be lovely.'

Ace rolled up the sleeping bags and the tent, and together the three of them walked to Heart Castle, with Sawa leading the way.

Half an hour later, Sawa stepped out of the woods, followed by Ace and Paige.  
'Heart Castle,' Sawa said, motioning to the castle on top of the hill. 'But to reach it, you have to get through the maze, something which Ace finds difficult…'  
'Yes, so please help me through this maze, like you always do.'

Something appeared in front of Sawa, Ace and Paige – something that appeared to look like a human shadow, except it was moving and the sun was shining onto it, not creating it. 'W-what's that?!' Paige squeaked.  
'An afterimage,' Sawa said darkly.

'Looks like we need to go see Julius,' Ace said happily. 'Sawa, take Paige to Heart Castle, and I'll go.'  
'No!' Sawa argued. 'We take to Heart Castle, and then you and I go see Julius!'  
'But I thought you didn't like me.' Ace said, surprised.  
'I don't want to stay here! I might run into-'

'Sawa, my love! You have returned to Heart Castle!' Peter appeared and went to hug Sawa.  
Sawa held a gun to Peter's head. 'Touch me and you die.' She growled.  
'But my love-' Peter began.  
'NO BUTS!' Sawa yelled. 'Now go take Paige back to the Castle and leave me alone!'  
'Paige…?' Peter finally noticed the outsider. He pulled out his gun, and pointed it at her. 'Outsiders are not welcome at Heart Castle.' Peter said darkly. 'Leave, or die.'

'You just don't like her because she reminds you of Aaaalice~' Ace teased.  
'SHUT UP!' Peter yelled.  
'Don't forget my gun.' Sawa told Peter. 'Lower yours, and take Paige back to Heart Castle.'  
Peter reluctantly put his gun away and walked off. Paige smiled at Ace before hurrying after Peter.

'She's interested in me.' Ace said smugly.  
'I seriously don't see what's so attractive about you.' Sawa said flatly.  
'Aw, no need to be so mean.'  
'Deal with it.' Sawa said and dragged Ace into the woods.

'Sawa, why are you so mean?' Ace asked happily a while later.  
'Because you make me do ridiculous stuff as your squire!' Sawa retorted as if it was obvious, which it was, to her.  
'Remind me?' Ace asked.  
'Like the time when you told me to bathe with you! And when you told me to punch myself! And when you told me to kiss that tree! And when you told me to take my shirt off! And-'  
'Yeah, yeah, okay, I remember.' Ace interrupted.

They walked in silence for a while.  
'Is there anything I can do?' Ace asked.  
'What do you mean, do?'  
'To be forgiven for everything that I have done to you, or at least tried to do.'  
'…I can't think of anything.' Sawa admitted.

_Well, that's probably a good thing. _Ace started whistling a tune that came into his head.  
'FOR STARTERS, STOP WHISTLING!' Sawa yelled.  
Ace stopped whistling.  
'And don't start whistling in a minute or two, or ever.' Sawa grumbled.  
Ace picked her up in a princess hug, grinning.  
'What the hell-?! Ace! Put me down!' Sawa shrieked.

'But I don't want to!' Ace whined.  
'Put me down or I'll punch you!' Sawa yelled.  
Ace still didn't put Sawa down.  
Sawa punched him, like she said she would. Ace didn't appear to be affected by it.  
'I'm not going to put you down, you know.'  
Sawa got even more pissed. 'PUT ME DOWN OR THE MARSHMALLOW FAIRY WILL GET YOU!'  
'Sawa, you are the marshmallow fairy.' Ace said with a sigh.

A few minutes passed. Ace didn't put Sawa down.  
Ace suddenly stopped. 'Where are we?'  
'…Shit…I have no idea…' Sawa looked around, trying to get her bearings. 'DAMMIT ACE, THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!'  
'You're cute when you're angry.' Ace said happily.  
'NO I'M NOT-' Smart Sawa figured out that yelling would just provoke more comments. 'I-It's that way.' Sawa pointed east towards the Clocktower.  
'Thanks, Sawa, you're the best.' Ace said happily and walked in the direction that Sawa was pointing.


	4. She Tends to Have that Effect on People

**The Unfortunate Job of Sawa in the Country of Hearts – HNKNA fanfiction**

**Chapter Three – She Tends to Have That Effect on People**

An hour or so later, Ace and Sawa reached the Clocktower.  
'Now put me down!' Sawa demanded.  
Ace did so. Then kissed her, grinning.  
Sawa blushed, and quickly walked into the Clocktower.  
Ace followed, and ascended the steps leading up to Julius's room, chuckling. _Oh, wasn't she cute. She _blushed_, when I kissed her. How naïve. That might hurt her in this world. She's tough, but when it comes to romance she's as naïve as Alice was._

When Ace entered the room where the clockmaker worked, he smiled. 'Julius!' He greeted.  
The Clockmaker looked up. 'Oh, Ace, hi.' He returned to the clock that he was fixing. 'Do you have anything for me?'  
'Yeah, I do.' Ace put a bloodstained bag in front of the man.

Julius emptied the bag onto the workbench. A dozen or so clocks, similar in size and shape to a pocket watch, fell out of the bag. The majority of them were bloodstained.  
None were working.  
'So many?' Julius asked.  
'Some tried to stop me.' Ace explained with a shrug.

'Can you at least try?' Julius asked, annoyed. 'It just creates more work for me.'  
'I can try, but don't expect anything.'

A few moments later, the Hatter walked into the room and frowned when he saw the knight.  
'Why are you here?' He asked curiously.  
'I could ask the same thing of you, Blood.' Ace calmly responded.  
'I need to speak with Julius.' Blood responded, refusing to elaborate, before smiling at Sawa. 'I'm surprised that I found you with your boss.'

Sawa pouted. 'It was a choice between him and Peter.'  
Blood laughed. 'Not much of a choice. Why don't you come over to the Mansion someti-'  
'She's not going over to the Hatter Mansion.' Ace growled, stepping between the Hatter and his squire.  
'Ooh, someone's getting protective, does knight-_kun_ have a _crush_?' Blood asked with a smirk.

'Get lost, Hatter, no-one wants you.' Ace said with that cold expression that was so unlike him.  
'Looks like I was ri-ight~' Blood said in a sing-song voice.  
'Blood, do you actually have any business here or have you just come to stir up trouble?' Julius asked, getting tired of this conversation.

'Yes, I do,' Blood said, pushing a box of clocks off a chair so he could sit down, 'but it's none of the Knight's business.'  
'What about me?!' Sawa whined from behind Ace.  
'It's not yours, either, but you can be referred to by saying "knight" since you're his squire.' Blood said flatly. Sawa pouted and surprisingly didn't argue.  
'We'll be going.' Ace said. 'Sawa. Come.' He left the room and quickly descended the steps to the bottom of the Clocktower. Sawa followed.

Ace was already in the woods and pulling out his cloak and mask by the time that Sawa had caught up to him. 'Hey! Don't walk so fast! It's difficult for me to keep up!' Sawa complained.  
Ace was silent and his expression was cold underneath the mask.  
'Ace? Ace! Talk to me!'  
Ace didn't respond.

'Ace. Ace. Ace. Talk. Why aren't you talking? Ace. ACE!'  
Ace stopped walking and looked down at Sawa. She couldn't see his expression; she was unable to see his eyes, those brown eyes that so often were bright and dancing with amusement, those eyes that looked so cold and unforgiving back in the Clocktower.  
'What was with you back at the Clocktower?' She asked. 'And don't pretend that I didn't notice, because I did.'

Ace paused for a few seconds before answering, 'I didn't want Blood to do anything to you.'  
'I CAN PROTECT MYSELF!' Sawa yelled. Ace smiled slightly.  
Why do you care whether Blood does something to me or not?' Sawa asked, suspicious.  
'You're my squire, if anything happens to you I might get a new squire that's more violent and annoying than you, if that's possible.' Ace said. His cold expression went away to be replaced with one of amusement.  
Sawa, deep down, was glad that Ace had cheered up, if only slightly. But Sawa usually didn't do deep down feelings.  
She pouted. 'I'm not violent! Or annoying!'

Ace laughed and continued walking. His happy expression quickly disappeared and his brow furrowed as he fell deep into thought.  
Sawa ran up to Ace and grabbed his arm. Ace looked down at her. 'Tell me the real reason!' Sawa demanded.  
'That is the real reason.' Ace responded calmly.  
'No it isn't! You're acting really weird! Why were you so protective of me? Why did you kiss me? Why did you pick me up like that? What was Blood saying about you having a crush?'

Ace took his cloak and mask off and put them on the ground before sitting on the cloak. Since Sawa was still holding onto his arm she was dragged down with him; she squealed and put her hands out in front of herself to break her fall, but before she hit the ground Ace reached out and grabbed her, pulling her into his lap. 'Are you alright? Did you get hurt?' Ace asked, sounding concerned.

Sawa blushed when she realized that she was sitting in Ace's lap. Ace chuckled and kissed her, which only made Sawa blush more. 'L-Let me go!'  
'Are you alright? Did you get hurt?' Ace asked for the second time.  
Sawa recovered and tried to wriggle out of his arms. 'No! I'm sitting your lap, why would I be _alright_?!'

Ace laughed and opened his arms, letting Sawa leap out of his lap and brush herself off. 'That's exactly what I'm talking about!' Sawa said.  
'I'm just mocking you.' Ace said flatly. 'Teasing you. It's fun because you always have the reaction that I wanted you to have.'  
'That's mean!' Sawa whined.  
Ace shrugged. 'It's funny.'

'So you do that because you enjoy _laughing _at me?!' Sawa exclaimed, hurt, after a bit of thought. '_That's_ the reason why you're horrible to me?!'  
'It's a way to put up with you being annoying, stubborn, loud and whiney.' Ace explained flatly.  
'Well I might not be so bad if you treated me like a normal person!' Sawa retorted.  
'You want me to treat you like I would treat any other woman your age?' Ace asked, amusement dancing in his brown eyes. Sawa didn't notice, like the ignorant woman she was.  
'Yes!' Sawa said, relieved.

Ace grinned, grabbed Sawa's shirt and pulled her down into his lap.  
'A-Ace?! What are you doing?!' Sawa squealed.  
Ace ignored it, and wrapped his arms around Sawa's waist before kissing Sawa, pushing her lips and teeth apart with his tongue, kissing her harder, pulling her to him.

Sawa's eyes widened and she tried to pull away from him. Ace didn't let go.  
_A-Ace! Stop it! _Sawa couldn't physically speak so she sent the thought to him._  
Is it too rough for your taste? _Ace replied.  
Not the answer that Sawa wanted, or expected. _W-what?!  
Is it too rough for your taste? _Ace repeated the question. He kissed her more softly, stopped crushing her to him, took his tongue out of her mouth. _Better?_

Sawa took the opportunity, now that she wasn't being crushed to Ace, to pull her mouth away from his. 'What the hell was that for?!' She gasped.  
'Didn't you like it?' Ace calmly asked.  
'But- What- NO!' Sawa couldn't think properly, her thought were still jumbled from when Ace had kissed her. 'No, I didn't, why did you do that?!'

Ace leaned forwards and brushed his lips against Sawa's before opening his arms, letting Sawa jump out of them and getting up and setting up the tent. The daylight had faded and the moon was full and shining through the trees, creating a faint shadow. Sawa tried to read Ace's mind, only to find that he had blocked it. This made Sawa more irritated than usual.

'Why are you blocking me?! Why did you kiss me?! Why are you acting like this, Ace?!' Sawa asked, stepping In front of Ace and demanding to be paid attention to. Sawa could see that Ace realized that he wouldn't get any peace until he answered, so he did.  
'I was treating you like I would treat any other woman your age.' He said with a small smile. 'Like you wanted.'

Sawa just stared at her boss. 'You mean… That you go around and randomly make out with twenty-year-old women…?'  
Ace smacked his palm against his forehead and groaned. Sawa could read his thoughts for a second.  
_How could she be so _stupid_?  
_'I AM NOT STUPID!' Sawa yelled. Ace smiled.  
'AND IT'S NOT FUNNY!' She added.

Ace crawled into the tent and set up a sleeping bag.  
'What happened to the other two?' Sawa asked, forgetting about Ace's odd behaviour for a second as some new information that Sawa had yet to learn arrived.  
'I left them at Heart Castle by accident.' Ace lied. Sawa didn't find it suspicious and so believed him.  
'Turn around.' She said. Ace did so and Sawa changed into Ace's shirt (which, for those of you who have forgotten, goes down to her knees).

'Who's going to have the sleeping bag?' Sawa asked.  
Ace shrugged, and responded a little too casually, 'you can have it.'  
'Are you sure?' Sawa asked.  
'Yup.' Ace settled down on the floor of the tent and fell asleep within a few seconds. Sawa crawled into the sleeping bag and lay awake for a few minutes, thinking about the billions of questions that constantly appeared in her mind.

_Why was Ace acting like that?  
_This was Sawa's most-thought-about question. Besides the obvious;  
_Why doesn't everyone answer my questions?  
When am I next going to have marshmallows?  
Why did I get Ace as a boss?  
_And also a few more questions that we don't want to bother our readers with, because if we do then they'll spend the next few days thinking about them and their heads will explode.  
Sawa tends to have that effect on people.


	5. The 'S' Word

The next time change, Sawa woke up with a yawn.

_Mmm… It's nice and warm in this sleeping bag… So comfortable…  
_She shuffled closer to something and wrapped her arms around it. It look her a second to realize that it was…  
_Ace._  
Sawa's eyes flew open and, wide awake, she leaped out of the sleeping bag. This woke Ace.  
'What… Hm…? Oh, good morning Sawa.'

'GOOD MORNING?!' Sawa screeched. 'I WAKE UP TO FIND YOU IN MY SLEEPING BAG AND ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF IS "GOOD MORNING"?!'  
'I have a tendency to sleepwalk.' Ace said with a pout.  
'AND I ASSUME THAT YOU CAN JUST WALK INTO A SLEEPING BAG.' Sawa yelled, furious.  
'I change that to sleep-teleport-into-girls'-beds-and-sleeping-bags- and-' He stopped as he saw Sawa deathglaring him.

'What?!' Ace said defensively. 'I can't control what I do when I'm asleep!'  
Sawa was still giving him that poisonous look.  
Ace sighed. 'Okay, okay, I apologize, I'll…. Think about how I'm not allowed to sleep-teleport before I fall asleep. I can't do much else.'  
Sawa looked slightly satisfied.

'Now can you go back to sleep in the sleeping bag?' Ace asked hopefully.  
'NO!' Sawa yelled.  
Ace widened his eyes, stuck out his bottom lip and looked at Sawa sadly as if he was a child that had just been denied a favourite toy.  
This was called the puppy-face.  
Sawa found this irresistible.  
_No…. Not the puppy-face… Not _again_…. _Sawa mentally groaned and looked away.

Ace crawled up to her and tugged on Sawa's shirt/nightgown. 'Please?' He asked.  
Sawa looked at him. Wrong move.  
'Okay, fine.' Sawa said with a sigh and crawled into the sleeping bag next to Ace. Ace smiled triumphantly and hugged her.  
_Why…? _Sawa thought. _Why do I find him so irresistible? Why does the puppy-face make me melt?  
Why was _I _chosen for this job…?_

Sawa felt Ace pull her closer and bury his face in her hair. His face was so close to hers that she could feel the huff of his breath on his cheek.  
_Maybe you love me._

Sawa's eyes flew open as the thought came to her. A second later she realized that Ace was the one that had put the thought into her head.  
_I… Love- NO! _Sawa mentally yelled, disgusted. _No, no, no, no, NO. Ew, Ace, where did you get THAT idea from?!  
_Sawa waited for a response. One didn't come. Carefully, so he wouldn't realize, she pressed into his mind to find out what he was thinking.

_She hates me. She really hates me.  
_Confusion overcame Sawa's anger. _'She hates me'? Of course I hate you, you idiot. Why are you so….. _Sawa froze, surprised, when she realized what emotion was clouding Ace's mind. _Disappointed…?  
_Ace's arms around Sawa loosened and he climbed out of the sleeping bag, poker-faced. He pulled on his shirt and coat and disappeared through the tent entrance. He'd blocked his thoughts. Damn him.

Sawa climbed out of the sleeping bag and changed into her regular clothes, kicking Ace's shirt into a corner. She went out into the crisp morning air and breathed it in, letting it fill her lungs. Birds twittered in the trees, hopping from branch to branch. Sawa watched as one tried to pull a bright red fruit from a plant on the ground.  
_Strawberries. _Sawa recognized the plant. _They taste nice with marshmallows. _

She looked around to see where Ace was. He was sitting down next to a pile of firewood, a box of matches in his hand. Sawa watched as Ace struck a match and threw it into the fire. A minute or so later and the fire was burning brightly.

Sawa sat down next to Ace and watched the flames dancing, hungrily licking the wood, jumping up into the sky as the logs shifted. Neither of them spoke, not even as Ace pulled out two long, leafless sticks and used them to skewer marshmallows. Sawa grabbed one of the sticks as soon as the fire had turned the marshmallow on it a nice golden-brown.

'Why are you acting so oddly?' Sawa asked the question for the umpteenth time. 'Since you started acting weird, you've ran off into the woods, called me your girlfriend, picked me up, kissed me, been defensive when Blood was talking to me, been quiet when I've asked you questions…. Don't think that I haven't noticed!'  
'Figure it out, sweetheart.' Ace said and gave her a fake smile before kicking dirt over the fire, putting it out, mounting Positivity and setting off at a canter; leaving Sawa sitting there, flabbergasted.

_What did he just call me? S- S- Sweet- SWEETHEART! HOW DARE HIM! HE HAD NO RIGHT TO CALL ME THAT! _This was basically Sawa's thoughts for the next few minutes. After Sawa had finished yelling, screaming, cursing, vowing to kill Ace, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera; she finally started thinking about what Ace said before he had used the 's word'.

_Now, um, what was that? Was it 'Think about it'…. No… 'Find out for yourself'….. No, not that either…. 'Figure it out'! That's it! He wants me to figure out why he was acting so weird! That must mean that he thinks it's obvious... _Sawa sat down on a log and her brow furrowed as she fell deep into thought, ignoring the birds and the squirrels and the marshmallows and everything else that ran around in the woods that Ace had gotten lost in so many times.

The Incubus watched the Squire of Hearts from his realm, and laughed because what was troubling Sawa so was quite obvious to him. _May as well help her, _he thought, _otherwise she'll never figure it out. _The Incubus passed through multiple dimensions as easily as eating a marshmallow and arrived in front of the girl.

_Dammit! _Sawa cursed.  
(Actually, Sawa said something much more colourful and rude but let's just pretend that she said 'dammit'.)  
'Nightmare! What the hell are you doing here?!'  
'I've come to help you with your little dilemma~' Nightmare said.  
'Really? Then TELL ME NOW!' Sawa yelled and went to grab Nightmare by his shirt, but unfortunately her hand passed through the Incubus, making her only more irritated.

'What do you want to know~?' Nightmare asked. 'I can't give you an answer without the question~'  
'I want you to tell me what Ace was hiding from me and why he's acting so odd!' Sawa demanded.  
'There'll be a price~' Nightmare asked with a grin.  
'What's the price?' Sawa asked flatly.  
'Your first child~' Nightmare asked happily.

_What? _Sawa thought. _What sort of price is _that_? My first child? That's ridiculous! Who does he think he's asking? I'm never going to have children. _Sawa considered this for a moment, and grinned. _Pfft. Stupid Nightmare. I'll accept the deal and he can be disappointed when he figures out that I'm not going to have children. _

'Fine.' Sawa said. 'You can take my first child when I have it (-_if I have it, _Sawa thought with a smirk-), and in return you'll tell me why Ace was acting weird and what he wanted me to figure out. You'll tell me that now.'  
'Ace has a crush on you~' Nightmare said in a sing-song voice, grinning. 'He wants you~ He's crazy about you~ He has to hold back from going all pathetic and moony when he's around you~'

Sawa was so shocked that she couldn't laugh at the Incubus's last comment. _W-What? Ace has a… Crush… On… ME... That... Can't be possible…  
Oh, but it is. _Nightmare sent the thought gleefully. He showed Sawa a few memories, memories that supported what Nightmare had said.

_Ace admitting to Julius that he was interested in Sawa  
Ace watching Sawa sleep with a pathetic, moony look on his face  
Ace kissing Sawa desperately, craving the taste of her lips  
Ace getting protective if any guy even looked at Sawa  
Ace stoping when Sawa asked him to_

All of this was so obvious now that Sawa was watching it.

'Aw, look who's blushing, is someone embarrassed that a guy returns her love and affection~?' Nightmare mocked. Sawa crashed back to reality from the shock and confusion that had previously consumed her and realized that she was, indeed, blushing.  
'WHAT THE HELL?!' Sawa yelled. 'WHO DO YOU THINK I AM?! I'D NEVER BE INTERESTED IN THAT BLASTED IDIOT!'

Nightmare grinned and faded away, leaving only an echo:  
_Goodbye, Squire of Hearts, I'll enjoy watching what role today's discoveries and decisions will play in the future..._


	6. Girliness

When Sawa arrived at Heart Castle the next day, she was surprised and enraged to find that Ace and Paige were sitting under the trees near the swimming pool, wet and in their bathers. A picnic blanket was laid out with food on it; Sawa could have spotted the marshmallows from a kilometre away.

The outsider was wearing Sawa's bikini (which made Sawa even more pissed than she already was), which had red-and-white horizontal stripes. Ace was wearing a pair of red board shorts, nothing else. Sawa's boss was lying on the grass next to the picnic blanket with Paige, who was looking at him with moony eyes, curled up next to him. Ace was lapping up the attention and shamelessly flirting with the outsider.

_That bastard! _Sawa screamed in her mind. _He tells me to figure out that he has a _crush _on me, and the next time I see him he's _flirting _with another woman! Well, good for him, because if he follows me around with those pathetic cow eyes, he's going to be disappointed! Because I'm never going to fall for an idiot like him! _Sawa stormed off into Heart Castle.

Ace pulled his attention away from the outsider for a few seconds to watch Sawa storm off into the Castle. He picked a few thoughts from the irritated girl; _That idiot… Flirting with the outsider…. Don't see why they find him so attractive… Can't see how they put up with him… If he was any good he wouldn't be so disgustingly close to Paige after claiming to be crushing on me…_

Ace pulled back from her mind. Her thoughts were always similar; you would get bored after a few minutes, if you could last that long.  
'Ace?' The outsider's voice brought him back to the present. Ace looked down at her and smiled.  
'Sorry, what were you saying?'  
'You were explaining the Game and then trailed off as Sawa came.'  
Ace grinned sheepishly. 'Sorry, she was thinking about me.'

'Oh yeah, you mentioned that you could read her thoughts.' Paige said, snapping her fingers. 'So what's that about?'  
'Few jobs get to have a connection similar to the knight-squire relationship,' Ace started, 'the only one that could rival it would be the Hatter-squire one. All relationships with bosses are similar to this relationship, but they're not as strong – they can't read eachother's mind and feel each other's pain.  
'Anyway, the knight-squire relationship. When the knight first makes eye contact with his squire, their souls are instantly entwined and after a day or so they can read each other's minds and feel their emotions, even being able to recall their memories if enough power is put into it or the other is having a weak moment. You can block the other and prevent them from doing this, if you learn how to; most people trade with the Incubus to find out how. Have you met him?'

Paige nodded. 'The annoying know-it-all that floats around and coughs up blood while trying to avoid work?'  
'Yep, that's him.' Ace said and laughed, because Paige summed up Nightmare perfectly in one line.  
'Okay; so your soul is merged with Sawa's, enabling you to read her thoughts, feel her emotions and occasionally recall her memories. Gotcha. And you and Sawa are the only one that has a relationship this strong, besides Blood and his squire. Hold up, I thought the term "squire" was only applied to the personal servant of a knight?' Paige asked with a frown.

'In Wonderful Wonder World the term is used to describe the person that the boss has the connection with, so Sawa is a Squire and the person who has the relationship with Blood is also a Squire. I'm not sure who it'll be; the last one died about a month ago.' Ace explained.  
'Thanks.' Paige said. 'Please continue.' She looked at him and smiled; her blue eyes were bright with curiosity.  
_I wish Sawa did this, _Ace thought. _Leaned against me and looked at me in that way. It's much better than being shook and yelled at. _Ace shuddered as he remembered the numerous times that this had happened.

'The squire has to obey the boss and do whatever he says.' Said Ace, returning to the girl in front of him, before quickly adding; 'or she, sorry, I'm not trying to be sexist. If I say 'he' I mean he or she.'  
Paige laughed, a pretty, girly laugh, with amusement dancing in those blue eyes of hers, not like Sawa's in-your-face laughter that he so often heard.  
It was nice being with an actual woman for once.  
'Continue.' It wasn't said in a demanding tone, more of a soft, pleading tone, one that wanted to know more but wasn't going to kill you to get more.

'It takes a great amount of willpower to oppose your boss.' Ace explained. 'Because your soul is basically programmed to obey them. It's sort of like an instinct that's always active. This is how strong the connection is.' Ace let out a yawn that had been bugging him for a while.  
'Oh, I'm sorry, is this dull for you?' Paige asked with surprised embarrassment obvious on her face.  
'Just a bit, but I think that's everything.' Ace said. He didn't want to talk about death just yet, he was sure that Paige wouldn't take it too well.

'Julius can explain the rest.' Ace said, getting up and stretching. He opened an eye and looked at Paige, to see how she was reacting; disappointment was written all over her face but there was still that moony look. Her hand twitched and Ace could tell that she wished to touch his bare chest. Not that she would admit to this, most women wouldn't.

'Will you take me to Julius's tomorrow?' Paige asked, hopeful.  
'Whoever said that I was leaving?' Ace asked with a chuckle before settling down next to her and spending the next few minutes kissing her. He would have stayed there longer, but Ace's instincts told him that a time change would be soon and also that Sawa would be expecting him. The longer he took, the angrier Sawa would get, and the worse off he would be when they finally did meet. His heart ached just thinking about it.

Ace knew that Paige would protest when he left her, so he helped her pack up the picnic things and carried her to her room. It ended up taking an hour to find the room because they got lost, and by the time they arrived at her room Paige was close to sleep. Ace placed the girl on her bed and kissed her gently before saying goodnight and embarking on the quest to find _his _room.

An hour later, Ace found his room with the help of a stressed maid. He was relieved to find that Sawa was not, in fact, waiting for him. He laughed at himself for thinking that earlier. _Pfft. As if, why would Sawa wait for me? She wouldn't care if I was with another woman. She probably hasn't noticed that she actually _is _a woman. _

Ace laughed and took a quick shower before pulling on his pyjama shorts. Just before he flopped down onto his bed he noticed a letter, addressed to him. The handwriting was neat and loopy. Ace challenged himself to figure out who wrote the letter without looking at the seal on the back. _Blood's handwriting. _He concluded after a bit of thought. _Only he would have such ridiculous handwriting. _He looked at the back and saw the seal of the Hatter. _Bingo. _He opened the letter and read what it said.

**To:** Sir Ace of Heart Castle.[it opened.]  
**From:** Blood Dupre of Hatter Mansion.  
**Sent:** Twelfth time change (night-time) of After-April season in the Tenth year of the current Gamemaster's rule. [_Only a time change ago, _thought Ace. _And is that the date? Time has gone by quickly._]

You are hereby invited to join me at the Mansion for the seasonal event. This season it is a mandatory ball. Your Squire, Miss Sawa, is also required to attend. There is a dress code that states that Miss Sawa must come in a dress which is appropriate for the occasion. You, Sir Ace, are required to wear a suit. I hope this is clear to both of you and that you will turn up at the event wearing the appropriate clothing. The date of the ball is five time changes later than the date on which this latter was sent. You must not be late, and there will be consequences if you are. Please do not come too early.  
As this is a mandatory ball, there is not much point in hiding what the events of the evening will be as you have to attend anyway. Besides the usual dancing and food there will also be a mandatory game of spin-the-bottle for the Role Holders.

I look forward to seeing you,  
Sincerely,  
Blood Dupre, Hatter  
[His signature.]

Ace grinned and put the letter on a nearby desk. _This'll be interesting. _He thought. _A game of spin-the-bottle. I'm sure Sawa will be thrilled. _Ace yawned and flopped down on the bed, falling asleep within a few minutes. _I wonder who my bottle will land on…_

**Um. Okay, firstly, thanks for reading this. It really means a lot to me. Yay, now boring stuff... bear with me. Well, i'm new to this site and any help would be appreciated. Secondly(yes, I already need help), I can't find an option that says 'type author comments' so i'm just writing at the bottom of the chapter. Am I doing this right? PLEASE PM ME AN ANSWER. Oh and um I forgot to include in Chapter One that Sawa has a tattoo of an upside down heart under her... *checks with co-author* left cheek. I think that's all I forgot. And i'll try post a chapter every 2-3 days! if you're interested, every chapter is about 4 Microsoft Word pages long. Ummm yeah! So PM me. About anything. And reviews would be good too. Oh, does anyone have a problem with how i'm accidentally OC-ifying Ace? Because it just gets worse. Aaaand now this is getting too long so yeah, see you next chapter. Marhmallow Fairy out.**


	7. Don't Tear This Note

**Okay! Chapter 6, everyone! I'm currently typing up Chapter 9... it takes me a while, so that's why I don't post them regularly, every 2 or 3 days - because seriously, would you want to go from a Chapter every 2 days to a Chapter every week when we catch up with what i'm up to typing up? I don't think so. Okay anywho, I posted another fanfiction. A short Warrior Cats one about Snowkit. So um yeah, help me out and read it. Okay. Thanks. So. Six. Here you go. **

NOOOO...! WHYYYYYY IS THE WORLD SO CRUEL?! WHYYY...!' Sawa fell to her knees and wailed. 'WHYYYYYY ARE THEY DOING THIS TO ME…?!' This was Sawa's first reaction when Ace read out the letter.

Ace would have laughed, except that would probably have been a bit _too _cruel. So he just grinned, a grin that could have been the Cheshire's. 'It's just a dress and a game of spin-the-bottle.'  
'JUST A DRESS?! JUST A GAME OF SPIN-THE-BOTTLE?!' Sawa screeched. 'THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS "JUST A DRESS"! "JUST A GAME OF SPIN-THE-BOTTLE"!'  
'I have to wear a suit.' Ace pointed out.

'YES! YOU LUCKY, LUCKY BASTARD! HOW WOULD_ YOU_ FEEL IF YOU HAD TO WEAR A DRESS?!'  
'Well I don't, because I'm a guy; but you do, because you're a girl. Why don't you like dresses? I'm sure you'd look cute in a dress.' Ace responded calmly.  
'THEY'RE IMPRACTICAL! THEY'RE DIFFICULT TO MOVE IN! YOU CAN'T RUN IN THEM! WHAT IF THE HATTERS DECIDED TO ATTACK US? I WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO DEFEND MYSELF BECAUSE OF THE IMPRACTICALITY OF THE DRESS!'

'What if you get one of those big, puffy dresses? You might be able to move in them. Or a really short one…' Ace trailed off as he imagined Sawa wearing them.  
Sawa shuddered. 'They're all horrible.'  
Ace thought. 'Going back on my original idea, how about one of those big, puffy dresses, a pink-and-white one that would make you look like a marshmallow?'  
Sawa paused. 'I'm imagining it…' She said. 'And it looks like a cake that my mum made for me when I was six. The one with the barbie doll in the cake with the cake as the dress and marshmallows down the side of the cake.'

Ace laughed. 'I think my sister had one of those.'  
'You have a sister?' Sawa asked curiously.  
Ace fell silent and Sawa caught a memory.

_A faceless boy with messy brown hair played with toy trains… A faceless girl, a few years younger, played with him. A second girl who looked to be the boy's age was talking with her mother. A man in a black suit of armour came into the house; soldiers dressed in black followed him. The faceless boy looked up with curiosity. The man in armour looked at him and turned to the boy's mother, the one who was previously talking to the other girl.  
'In the name of the Queen, we take this child. He will become the Squire of Hearts.' The man's voice was cold, emotionless. The woman begged the man not to take the boy… This had no effect. Soldiers came into the house and grabbed the boy. When he realized that he was being taken from his family, the boy screamed, kicking the soldiers, yelling at them, trying to get away. The little girl, now crying, ran up to the soldiers and tried to pull her brother away from their iron grip.  
'ENOUGH!' yelled the man, and with that word he drove his sword through the little girl's heart—_

The memory broke off into blackness and Ace pushed past Sawa and left the room. When Sawa tried to go into his thoughts, she found that he had blocked them, but his emotions were so strong that he couldn't hide his anger and sadness. _That idiot, he's going to get lost. _Sawa thought as she went after him – she had to run, otherwise she wouldn't be able to catch up to him. _Stupid Ace! Why'd he have to run off?! Stupid short legs! Why can't I be taller?! _

Sawa searched all over Heart Castle and she couldn't find Ace.  
_Not in his room… Not in my room… Not in the bathroom… Not in the dining hall… Not in the kitchen… Not in the maids' quarters… I'll try the stable next. _Sawa stepped into the stables and breathed in the familiar scent of horse, which calmed her down a bit. Sawa automatically walked over to Determination's stall, and was relieved to find out that he was there, and that Ace hadn't taken him.

She fed Determination a sugar cube and told him something about beating Ace before looking to see if Positivity was in her stall. As predicted, she wasn't, and a quick look around the stable revealed that she was the only one missing.  
_The Clocktower. _It was the most obvious choice. _Wow, Ace sure is predictable.  
_She tacked up Determination and rode him out of the stables before setting off to the Clocktower at a canter.

When Sawa arrived at the Clocktower's stable she grinned. _Positivity's here. How ridiculous. How predictable. _The only thing that surprised Sawa was that Ace arrived here before she did.  
Sawa went up the stairs to the Clockmaker's workroom. When she burst into the room, Ace was nowhere in sight; and she just stood there, her hands still on the door.  
'Must you always make a dramatic entrance?' Julius said with a sigh.  
'Where's Ace?!' Sawa demanded.  
'You just missed him, he was here two minutes ago.' Julius told her.  
'What?! Where's he going now?!''  
'To Heart Castle. Paige.'

Sawa groaned. _Bloody hell, he's just going to see Paige? You've got to be kidding. _  
Julius returned to his clocks, ducking his head. A cup of coffee was next to him, only half of it had been drunk.  
Sawa narrowed her eyes, suspicious. 'Hey Julius, why're you acting weird?'  
'What makes you think that?' His response came too quickly to be natural. A note of panic was in his voice.  
Sawa sighed. 'Julius, you can't lie.'  
'Ace owes me a coffee.' Julius muttered.

Sawa looked at Julius, confused. 'What?'  
'Ace bet that you would figure it out right away. If he won, I had to go to the Amusement Park with him; if I won, he would make me a cup of coffee.'  
Sawa laughed. _Mental note: Take Julius to the Amusement Park sometime.  
_'So where is he, really?' Sawa asked. 'Ace.'

'I don't know; he's probably _is _with Paige.' Julius was telling the truth _this _time.  
'Hm… Well, see you later, Julius!' Sawa raced down the stairs and into the stables before mounting Determination. Just as Sawa was about to trot out of the stables, she paused. _Positivity was in the stables when I arrived. She should be gone. But she's still here… _Sawa looked around to check that she was right. Which she was.

Sawa frowned. _So Ace is either still here or he… _Sawa swore loudly. _That bastard! He left Positivity here on purpose, so I went to Julius and so it gave him more time to get away! I should have questioned Julius more! _Sawa's anger paused for a moment when she noticed a piece of paper attached to Positivity's stall door. She went over, ripped it off of the nail that held it there and read it.

"Sawa. (the note read.)  
By now I'm sure you've figured out that Julius was lying when he said that I was with Paige. This is true. If you're interested, he has to go to the Amusement Park with me, if you figured out that he was lying right away. You can come along, if you like, if you don't yell at me the whole time.  
Anyway, you're probably wondering where I am [_Pfft. Who do you think I am? Of course I'm wondering that,_ thought Sawa]. Since you can't stop me, I'll go ahead and tell you. I'm getting your dress for Blood's ball. Please don't tear this no-"

Sawa screamed, furious, and tore the note into a million tiny pieces. They fluttered to the ground, like tiny paper snowflakes.  
_AAAH! I'LL KILL HIM WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON HIM! HE'S GOING TO GET ME SOME RIDICULOUS THING THAT I HATE! THAT BASTARD, HE'S DOING THIS ON PURPOSE! HE JUST PRETENDED TO BE UPSET AND GAVE ME THAT MEMORY (which is probably fake, _Sawa added,) _TO THROW ME OFF THE SCENT! HE'S BEEN PLANNING THIS SINCE HE GOT THE LETTER! HE PROBABLY TALKED TO BLOOD HIMSELF TO ASK IF THERE COULD BE A DRESS CODE!_

Sawa raged for a few minutes; screaming, yelling, swearing, cursing, blah blah blah. She eventually stopped because her throat was getting sore, and she'd need to yell at Ace later when he showed her the dress he bought.  
_Maybe it won't fit. _Sawa thought happily. _Maybe it'll be too uncomfortable. Maybe, if it's too bad, I can accuse him of being a pervert and I won't have to wear it. Yes, that's what I'll do. _  
With this decided, Sawa mounted Determination happily and set off at a trot to the closest lolly shop, thoughts of marshmallows and victory dancing in her head.

**AUTHOR COMMENTS TIME~ (everyone: *groans* not again...)**

**(important bit)  
****THAT'S RIGHT! ACE HAD A SISTER! BUT SHE WAS KILLED BY SOME PERSON WHO'S AN OC OF MINE (yes, another, please tell me if you don't like me having so many OCs, it only gets worse, trust me) AND HE HAS A ROLE YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF! And if you were reading carefully you would have seen that he also has a TWIN SISTER! Ace and Sawa get backstories and families!**

**(not-so-important-but-still-kinda-important bit)  
Although that's much later in the fanfiction... Since we (myself and ma RP buddy) didn't think of families until a certain point in the RPG. (Yeah, RPG. Have I told you that this is the fanfiction version of the UJSCH RPG? Well, it is. And that RPG's still going. It started in October last yearish. And this is the Old part of the RPG. There's a VERY IMPORTANT EVENT that marks the changing of UJSCH. So this is labeled the 'old' part, before that event, and we're still RPing the 'new'. Now. Question of the Chapter. Do you like these comments or do you want me to shut up? And (okay two questions) should I continue having a question-of-the-Chapter?**

**My Cheshire Waltz 2 should have arrived by now... I ordered it off the internet and it should be here but it isn't... (random complaint) **


	8. Reverse Psychology

_Tap… Tap… Tap... TAP... TAP... TAP. _The sound of Sawa's footsteps grew louder as she grew more irritated. Ace grinned as he came into the Hatter's Mansion, the irritated girl at his side. She appeared to be at least relatively happy with his choice of dress. Ace grinned as he remembered when he showed her.

'_Here, your dress.' Ace had held up the dress with a smile. Sawa had pouted when she saw it, and had grabbed it before storming into the bathroom. A minute later she had emerged, this time wearing the hated garment. Ace had frowned when he had seen her wearing it for the first time. 'It looked better when I imagined it…' He had muttered. 'I'll have to get another one.'  
'No, no, this one's fine, no need to get another one!' Sawa had exclaimed.  
'But I hate it!' Ace had whined.  
'Too bad, deal with it.' Sawa had allowed herself a triumphant smirk._

Ace laughed at the memory. _Reverse phycology. Always works. _Ace's feet automatically led him to the drinks table, and he half-consciously poured himself a glass of the Hatter's wine. Sawa, eager to best him, poured herself some vodka and drained the glass with one gulp.  
Ace frowned at her, but didn't dare tell her off. That would only make sure that she drank as much alcohol as she possibly could, and Ace didn't want her getting drunk.

Ace held out his hand to Sawa. 'May I have this dance?'  
'What dance?' Sawa snapped. 'I'm sure as hell not dancing with you.'  
'Suit yourself.' Ace said, and went over to greet Julius and Paige as they arrived.  
'Ace!' Paige said happily and rushed over to him.  
Ace smiled and greeted her with a hug. 'My lady.'

Paige smiled up at him. Ace kissed her gently.  
He looked up at Julius, who was trying to sneak off into the shadows. As he always did.  
'Julius!' The man, panicked, looked up when he heard his name, and only relaxed a bit when he realized that it was Ace who said it.

'What?'  
'Go have a drink; you look like you need one.'  
Julius sighed and went over to where Sawa was testing all the alcohol she could get her hands on.  
'MAKE SURE SHE DOESN'T GET DRUNK!' Ace yelled after him before taking Paige's waist and leading her into the dance.

Sawa watched her boss dance with the outsider, disgusted. _What's so great about him? Nothing. Exactly. It baffles me why they like him. _  
'Sawa.' She turned around at her name, and found the Cheshire behind her. He was wearing a black suit; a tiny hole had been cut into the trousers so his pink tail could move freely. His 'fur', which was more like a feather boa, wasn't with him. His pink cat ears twitched as he half-consciously listened to the people around him; and his hair, the same colour as his ears and tail, was as it usually was – covering one eye.  
'What is it?'

He held out a hand. 'Care for a dance?'  
Sawa scowled and was about to turn him down when she noticed Ace. He was still with Paige, but he was giving Boris this icy glare. _He doesn't like Boris, _Sawa realized.  
'Sure.' Sawa said with a smile and took Boris' hand, letting him lead her into the centre of the room and start dancing.

An hour later, the Hatter asked for the Roleholders to stop dancing and join him in a separate room. Ace grinned and led Paige into the room where the Roleholders were gathering. Blood was there, holding a plastic bottle. Julius was standing in the shadows, Vivaldi was complaining to the King of Hearts, Peter was downright pissed and Elliot was standing defensively behind Blood. Ace walked over to the Hatter to ask if Paige was able to play.  
'Sure, it'll be fun having the outsider play with us too.' Blood replied with a smile when he heard Ace's request. 'Come, sit down; the game's about to begin.'

Ace sat down with Paige next to him. The other Roleholders started to sit down next to him, curving the line around to form a circle. Sawa and Boris sat down opposite Ace and Paige; oddly, the two women were avoiding each other's gaze. Wait, no, Paige was avoiding Sawa's gaze and Sawa was refusing to look at _him_. Oops. Well, it was an easy mistake to make.

'We'll spin the bottle to see who goes first.' Blood placed the bottle in the centre and spun it. It spun for an agonizing minute. _Slower…. Slower… Slower…. It's going to land on the Amusement Park owner- Wait, no, Tweedledee- no, Dum- can it possibly go slower? Oh, wait, it's _me—_No, Julius. _Julius was sitting on Ace's left and paled –if that was possible, he was pale enough already- when the bottle landed on him.  
'Julius! Spin the bottle to see which lucky person you get.' The Hatter had invited a few maids to make the numbers even between the males and females, since the only female participants were the Queen of Hearts, Vivaldi, Sawa and Paige.

Julius spun the bottle and it landed on one of the faceless maids. He nervously stood up, as did the maid, and he walked over to the maid and kissed her cheek before returning to his spot, his face red. Ace almost laughed at his friend. _Pfft! How ridiculous! He's as bad as Sawa!  
_The maid went to spin her bottle.

An hour or so later, everyone had had at least one turn and most people had calmed down a bit and were enjoying the game. A few drinks had been passed around and most people were at the very least tipsy. Ace looked around the room, looking at each of the players.

The Prime Minister of Hearts and the White Rabbit, Peter White, had turned into a fluffy white rabbit so that the women actually want to hug him. The only good thing about this was that he didn't get kissed by any women because kissing a rabbit is unhygienic or whatever people say these days as excuses to not kiss Peter.

Vivaldi, the Queen of Hearts and Ace's boss, had stopped ordering executions at random and was actually enjoying herself. _I suppose the alcohol would've helped, _Ace mused, _because Her Majesty usually isn't in a good mood. _

The King of Hearts had been kicked out of the game long ago since he wasn't any fun and too old for that matter.

Mary Gowland, the thirty-or-so-year-old man (ages and birthdays usually were unconfirmed in Wonderful Wonder World) who ran the Amusement Park, hadn't been picked in a while. _The bottle was probably enchanted. _This would make sense, since Peter and Mary, the two that no-one wanted to kiss, had been picked the least, and the favourites, Blood, Boris and himself, had been picked the most. Sawa had had a few turns, although all the men had been afraid of her and so it wasn't too bad for her. Besides Boris, that is. He wasn't scared of her.

Dee and Dum, the violent and childish Gatekeepers of the Hatter Mansion, were switching between their adult and child formes, although as the game went on they were staying as adults more, mainly to keep with the general and group of the game and to be allowed the alcohol that was being served.

Elliot March, the March Hare and Blood's faithful minion and the only one in the Country of Hearts other than Peter that had rabbit ears, had relaxed and was joking around, enjoying the alcohol. _Just like his boss, _Ace noticed. _Except without the women. _Blood was shamelessly flirting with the maids there, but he was still keeping to the rules and not kissing them when it wasn't their turn. Surprisingly, Elliot wasn't arguing with the Bloody Twins. _Guess that's a good thing._

'Ace! Your turn.' Ace jolted back to reality when Blood called out his name.  
'Oh it is, is it?' Ace took the bottle and spun it.  
'Wonder which lucky girl'll be picked.' Blood laughed and raised a wine bottle to his lips before tossing it to the Knight.  
Ace raised the bottle and drained it before watching the bottle.  
It spun quicker, quicker… _So fast, _Ace marvelled, _I was probably right when I guessed that the bottle was enchanted. _

The maids, who after a while had agreed to a bottle or two and had started enjoying the game and participating as much as the men, were laughing at the idea of wanting the bottle to land of them – although Ace could see them leaning forwards and shooting each other glances, wondering who would be picked.

_I think I'd prefer a guy, _Ace admitted to himself, _but someone spirited, like Blood. Maybe Boris, that'd piss off Sawa. But not that I would be unhappy if it were a girl.  
_The bottle spun slower and slower and eventually landed on…  
…_Sawa._

Ace dropped the wine bottle, shocked, and despite everything, he blushed. _S-Sawa…. _He had mixed feelings on kissing the girl. Everyone laughed and those around the two nudged them and told them to go kiss the other – what was so bad about it?  
_If only they knew._

Ace stood up, poker-faced, and Sawa did the same. Neither met the other's eye and they walked into the centre of the circle wordlessly. They stood there for a few seconds, unsure.  
'What's your problem, Ace? Was I right, before, do you have a crush on the girl?' Blood taunted, which drove Ace to man up and kiss her.

He wrapped an arm around her waist, gently pulling her to him, and the other rested lightly on the back of her head. He kissed her softly, not wanting to discourage her or irritate her – which was done more easily than you would think. Sawa wordlessly placed her hands on his chest and let him kiss her for a few seconds before pushing him away and going back to her spot.

Ace walked back to his place and sat down, sending Sawa a thought as he did – _Now that wasn't too bad, was it, sweetheart?_ He asked gently, not expecting a reply. None came.  
Ace sighed, relieved, half-glad that it was over.

If only he knew that the worst was still to come.

**Uhhh okay sorry for posting this chapter later it's just that I'm _still _on [chapter] Nine [of this fanfic] and I just... have lost interest. I have a Maximum Ride + No.6 crossover I've started, the first chapter will be posted in a few days... I've had so much homework that I've left to the last minute that it's not funny and I don't feel like writing. So sorry. And if this keeps up, me not feeling like writing, then after I post Eight it might start to be a week or two before I post another chapter. Of course, it would be quicker if the chapters were shorter. So please tell me if the Chapters should be shorter. That would be a great help and it'll mean that I could post quicker. If nobody responds then I'll just post Eight as it is and then Nine would be 500ish words shorter or just 3rd Word page (I try aim for 4 pages with each Chapter). Okay. Bye.**

**XD Watching danisnotonfire's "Internet fandoms" on YouTube - my life in 5 minutes**


	9. The Bottle Seriously Has to be Enchanted

**Fun fact of the Chapter! (There's going to be one at the start of every chapter now so deal with it. Yes it will always be about the fanfic).  
****Later on, we give Ace a twin sister, 4 sisters (15, 12, 7 and one that's 3 years younger than Ace but died at the age of 6) and parents, all faceless.**

**Oh and thanks for 500 views. It really means a lot to me. Although a few more critical reviews, favourites and follows would be appreciated. Even a PM. Anywho, I'll think of something good to give you guys... Idk a side-story or something. I'm thinking of one called "Things that go marshmallow in the night"... If I can get around to writing it... **

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Sawa spun her bottle. Ace looked anxiously at the bottle, going through the list of role holders and deciding which he did and didn't want the bottle to land on.

_BANG! _The window flew open, and a cold breeze flew into the room, sending a shiver up Ace's spine. The few decorative candles in the room flickered, making it seem like some spooky movie. The circle fell silent, the alcohol bottles were lowered from lips, and all heads turned to the window.

'Wren,' Blood said calmly. 'You're late.'  
A man of about twenty was standing next to the window. He had dark brown hair and deep green eyes, with a mischievous and amused look dancing in them. He was dressed casually but neatly, in a white button-up shirt and brown trousers. A few leaves decorated his messy hair, indicating that he'd been spending some time in a tree.

Wren grinned and sat down next to Blood. 'Who's bottle?' he asked.  
Sawa's bottle was still spinning.  
'The Squire of Hearts.' Blood motioned towards the girl with his wine glass.  
Ace scowled as he saw the curious look in the newcomer's eye. _Well, he's going to be disappointed, _he thought, _Sawa's not going to fall for his flirting. I have to admit, that's the one good thing about the girl._

Sawa's bottle spun slower, slower, slower…. And eventually stopped: On Wren.  
The two stood up and walked to the centre of the circle. Sawa hesitated – _a good sign, means she doesn't want to kiss him, _Ace thought – and Wren made the first move, wrapping his arms around Sawa's waist, pulling her to him and gently making out with her.

Sawa blushed fiercely and let her hands rest on Wren's chest. And after a while, Ace was shocked to realize that… _She was kissing Wren back.  
_A few moments passed and neither made any move to break the contact, a few wolf whistles came from the circle along with laughter. 'Someone's enjoying this~' Blood said and laughed, smirking first at the couple in the centre and then at Ace.

Sawa was obviously embarrassed to be laughed at and to be kissing Wren in the first place, but she seemed to be… _Enjoying _it. Wren realized this and was kissing her harder, placing a hand in her hair, pulling her closer. The kiss came to its climax when Sawa looped her arms around Wren's neck, pulling his head to hers so she could kiss him better. Then Wren broke away, gave Sawa a soft kiss as an apology for stopping and sitting back down in his spot.

Wren was seemingly unfazed and joined back in with the game as the others were, laughing off the teasing and comments. Sawa on the other hand was red and had ducked her head in embarrassment. Her thoughts had been blocked the entire time, and on reflection Ace preferred it that way.

'Looks like someone's got an admirer, lucky bastard.' Blood nudged his squire and threw a triumphant look at the Knight. 'And looks like someone else isn't happy with it.'  
People looked in Ace's direction and laughed at his irritated expression, throwing teasing comments in his direction. Ace laughed off the first few before eventually ducking his head and letting them bounce off of him. It was only when Wren's bottle had almost finished spinning that he made his excuses and left, unable to stand this any longer.

After Ace left, Wren snatched up his bottle. 'Actually, I have business to attend to, I can't play.' This announcement came with protests and rude comments – and barely concealed disappointment from Sawa.  
Blood laughed. 'Business? As if. You're planning to sneak away with Sawa.'  
Sawa blushed fiercely and Wren grinned. 'Damn, read my mind.' He held out a hand to Sawa.  
Sawa took it and let Wren lead her out of the room and then out of the mansion. They walked together in silence for a while.

'Was that your boss?' Wren asked, looking at the night sky with his hands behind his back. 'He's very protective, isn't he?'  
Sawa tripped over herself as she was caught off guard. ('IT WAS THE DAMN SHOES' FAULT!' Sawa yelled. 'Yes, Sawa, I know, but it seems more romant- Uh, better, if we don't mention that.' Said I.)

Wren caught her as she fell, causing Sawa to blush yet again. He held her in a princess hug, taking Sawa's shoes off and holding them in the hand that was supporting the top half of Sawa's tiny body.  
Sawa didn't know how to respond – but she didn't complain, argue, yell, swear or scream – a definite improvement.  
Wren sat down under an oak tree and placed the Squire of Hearts down in his lap, letting his hands hang loosely around Sawa's waist. Sawa leant back onto Wren's chest and, embarrassed, caught herself fantasizing about Wren shirtless.

'You're awfully quiet.' Wren commented. 'Blood says that you're a very talkative one.'  
'Well, I can be quiet at times.' Sawa snapped, then bit her lip. _Need to get out of this habit of seeming angry whenever I open my mouth. _Then: _Why the hell do I care?  
_'You still haven't responded to my comment.' Wren reminded.  
'Do we _really _need to talk about my boss? He's annoying. I hate him.'

'Oh, harsh, it seemed he really cares about you.' A sympathetic look appeared on his face. 'Can't believe what it would feel like to be hated by one so beautiful.'  
'I'M NOT— I-I mean, you think so?' Sawa blushed. _Stupid idiot makes me tongue-tied.  
_Wren smiled at her and kissed her cheek. 'Yeah, I think so.'  
Sawa blushed and managed a smile back.

'That's better,' Wren said with a grin. 'Smiles look good on you.'  
'I don't do smiles.' Sawa said with a scowl.  
'Shame.' Wren whispered, placing a hand on her cheek and pulling her face towards his.  
Sawa blushed, yet again, and this time _she _made the first move and kissed him, looping her arms around Wren's neck and trying not to think about it. _I don't do kisses, _she told herself, _this is just a way to get to the Hatter. I'll beat Ace and kill Blood first._

The more she told herself that, the less she believed it, until she finally gave in and admitted to herself that she was interested in the Hatter's squire. _Not that I'm going to admit that to _him_, of course._

Ace watched the two of them from a distance, disgusted and jealous. _What's so great about _him_? How does he just come in and make Sawa fall head over heels for him? That bastard… Probably just wants to kill her. He's going to use her, rub it in my face and then ditch her. _

Ace went back to look for Paige and tried to distract himself by dancing and chatting with her, but eventually the hurt overcame all feelings of happiness and it came to such a point that he made his excuses and left. As he stepped out of the Mansion he looked back, and saw Paige dancing with the Bloody Twins, laughing, enjoying herself. _At least some people are having fun, _he thought bitterly, and left.

Wren and Sawa were together for the rest of the evening; kissing, talking, moving to a new spot when they thought they might be found. It was only when the time changed and streaks of pink and gold crossed the sky in a brilliant sunrise that they said their farewells and parted, Wren going back into the mansion to help with the cleaning up and Sawa back to Heart Castle.

When Sawa arrived back at Heart Castle and went into her room, she saw that Ace… _Wasn't there. _This shouldn't be something unusual, but…  
Sawa shook her head and went into the bathroom to shower. _Not there eith- WAIT, WHY AM I EXPECTING ACE TO BE IN MY BATHROOM?! _Sawa freaked when she saw what her thought patterns were. Once again she shook her head and showered before taking Ace's shirt – which the maids had washed – and pulling it on. With a sigh she flopped down onto the bed and fell asleep.

When she woke again two time changes later, Ace _still _wasn't in her bed. Or under it. Or in the bathroom. Or in her cupboard. Or _anywhere. _Despite her brain telling her that she shouldn't be surprised that Ace wasn't there, her instincts (or maybe it was the connection with her boss) told her otherwise.

She dressed before bursting into Ace's room, only to find that he wasn't there either. With a frown, she went downstairs to the eating hall (people didn't have set sleeping times and so meals were eaten whenever) and saw him eating what appeared to be some sort of breakfast/dessert. Stacks of pancakes and ice cream and strawberries and whipped cream and waffles and orange juice and chocolate cake and —_HOW MUCH CAN HE EAT?! AND ARE THOSE MARSHMALLOWS?! _

A second later she was at Ace's shoulder. 'You're eating my marshmallows.' Sawa said darkly.  
'They're not yours. Sit down and have some if you want.' Ace passed her the bowl of marshmallows and the skewers to dip the marshmallows into the chocolate fountain on the table a few metres away.  
Sawa started sparkling and skewered _ten _marshmallows onto the skewer and coated them in melted chocolate before eating them in one go. It was scary sometimes how she could do that.

Sawa went back to Ace and started talking with a mouthful of marshmallows and chocolate. Ace sighed. 'Sawa, I can't hear you. _Swallow your food.' _  
Sawa grinned, showing pink-and-brown teeth, and then swallowed the marshmallows and went back for more.  
Ace sighed, picked up the chocolate fountain and the marshmallows and placed it in front of him so Sawa could talk and eat without having to go back and forth for food. _Send me thoughts if you insist on eating. _

_Okay, so, why were you so irritated at Blood's ball? _Sawa asked.  
Ace's lazy smile quickly turned into a frown and he scowled down at his food. _I don't like the look of the Hatter's squire. He looks dangerous.  
I don't think he's too bad, _Sawa replied quickly with a slight blush.  
Ace pushed his plate away in disgust and walked off.

Sawa grabbed the bowl of marshmallows and ran after him.  
_WAIT! _She yelled.  
Ace turned around. 'Why should I do what you say, _sweetheart?_' he asked icily.  
_There's no need to be pissed just because I'm… Dating the enemy's squire. _Sawa realized with a slight blush that she probably _was_ dating Wren.  
Ace just seemed to get even more upset at this and blocked his mind before running off.  
Sawa pouted. _Well, he can be moody if he wants. Not my fault.  
_And, equally pissed as Ace, she spun around and stormed out of the castle, on her way to the Hatter's.

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**Yeah, well, I had a spare minute or two so I'm posting this. I'll have Nine for ya in the next few days too - almost done, just another few hundred words. I'm cutting the chapters short so I don't take as long writing them.**

** 1395 points on LP so far, I'm in the top 800 globally, top 500 nationally and coming 5th in my school, aiming for 1st. Japanese... Easy. I'm basically 'learning' the alphabets and getting stacks of points for it. Then numbers... Pfft, this is simple. If I only had more time I would be first... Ha. I seem like Light Yagami or something. Which I'm totally not *cough*. **


	10. Which Pairings Do You Ship?

**Fact of the Chapter! Paige isn't really included. At all. So don't expect her to be. And don't ship Paice (PaigexAce) because it isn't really included. Paige is unimportant. End of story.**

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Ace had gone to the pool to cool off. Heart Castle had an excellent pool ('It's as big as the ones at the Olympic Games!' Paige had gasped when she had seen it. 'Olympic Games? What's that?' Ace had asked, confused). Ace has learnt to swim when he first became a Squire at Heart Castle and so enjoyed going to the pool whenever he wanted to get his fitness levels up again or just wanted to cool off.

He dived into the pool and started lazily swimming laps, over and over again, from one end of the pool to the other, trying to distract himself from thoughts of his irritating Squire and the blasted Hatter's Squire.

About half an hour later, Ace had cooled off and was more relaxed. He was about to get out when he noticed Sawa sitting at the edge of the pool. He just stayed there, half out of the pool, staring at his squire._  
Since when did _she _get here?! Why is she here, anyway?! And is she wearing… A _bikini_...?_

'You look awfully stupid like that.' Sawa commented. 'Half in and half out of the pool. Like a fish at the edge of a puddle of water.'  
Ace blushed and slipped back into the pool and continued swimming laps, conscious of Sawa's gaze following him. Eventually the horrible sensation of being watched died away, and when he dared to look he saw that his squire had slipped into the pool and had also started swimming laps.

_She doesn't have great technique_, Ace noticed. _But then again, most people never learnt to swim in Wonderful Wonder World, or at the very least the Country of Hearts. I was just lucky.  
_Ace sighed and swam over to where Sawa was and stopped her by grabbing her leg - which worked, but he got the other leg in his face because of it.

'Ow,' He said, and rubbed his nose. Sawa pulled her leg away and trod water (since she wasn't tall enough to be able to touch the bottom, like Ace was), pouting.  
'Your swimming really sucks.' Ace told her flatly.  
'Does not!' Sawa yelled.  
Ace sighed. 'Swallow your pride and let me teach you to swim, properly.'  
'Fine.' Sawa grumbled after an agonizing pause.

A time change later, Sawa and Ace were laughing and enjoying themselves in the pool. Wait, did I say _Ace? _That was a mistake, I apologize. Sawa and _Wren. _Wren and Blood had arrived half an hour ago and Wren had proceeded to slip into the pool and creep up behind Sawa, wrapping his arms around her and kissing the back of her neck. Sawa had let out a particularly girly shriek before going red.

Anyway, Ace had gotten out of the pool and stormed off to Heart Castle, only to find Blood standing at the entrance, a triumphant smirk on his face. Ace had proceeded to beat the crap out of the Hatter before going up to his room and screaming in frustration. This is currently where we are at this point of the story.

_THAT BASTARD—AND THE HATTER, DAMMIT—AAAAAHHHHH! _Ace let out another scream before collapsing onto his bed, tears running down his cheeks and sobs wracking his frame.

The Incubus watched this from his realm, highly amused. _It's like a soap opera or something. I need to thank the Cardmaster for giving the Sawa this role.  
_He turned to the cat-girl next to him. Her ears and tail had dropped; a sad expression clouded her face. A single tear rolled down her cheek.  
'He really cares for her.' She whispered, her voice catching at the end.

'It's been five years,' Nightmare reminded gently.  
'Why _her?_' Neko-chan wailed, and burst into tears. 'She _hates _him! He's killing himself over her, and she doesn't _CARE!_'  
Nightmare sighed. 'Well, she and the Hatter's squire _do _make a good couple.'  
'That's the _PROBLEM! _Can't you figure this out _YOURSELF?_'  
'You think Wren's cute.' Nightmare had to point it out.

'That's a different matter entirely,' Neko-chan stated with a pout.  
Nightmare allowed himself a small smile.  
'Oh shut _UP!_' Neko-chan snapped with a slight blush. 'Anyway, it's obvious that _you're _interested in the Gamemaster.'  
Nightmare doubled over at the words and a small pool of coughed-up blood appeared at his feet.

'That is the most _disgusting _thing.' The girl scowled in disapproval.  
Nightmare smiled slightly and wiped his mouth with a handkerchief. 'I can't help it.' He reminded with a slight smile.  
Neko-chan sighed and a cup appeared in her hands. She snapped her fingers, filling it with water, and passed it to the Incubus. 'Wash out your mouth,' she instructed.  
'Yes, _mother,_' Nightmare muttered before doing so.

Neko-chan returned to watching the Knight through the pool in front of her. Actually, it wasn't much of a pool, more of a small lake. About a three times the size of a family swimming pool, it was the place where people arrived when their clock stopped ticking.

Neko-chan remembered with a sigh of the sensation of her soul detaching itself from her body and the calm of the water around her, before the sudden realization that she was underwater and bursting to the surface of the Pool.

Most people didn't know what to do and stayed near the Pool for the first few days until they bumped into Nightmare or another soul. Some people looked around at the swirling wall of multicoloured darkness and were brave enough to walk through the patch of colour that stayed the same.

The colour of the patch varied from soul to soul – it was the colour they loved and treasured the most. Neko-chan's patch was a bright red – the colour of her uniform she had worn when she was Ace's squire and lover.

If you walked through your patch of colour, you would find yourself in your own Utopia. Almost endless, the land would be your perfect paradise, expect for one thing. Nothing really lived in this utopia – there were no animals, whatsoever.

Trees and plants survived by themselves. The weather was always the same unless you decided to change it. Buildings could build themselves if you wished it; food could sprout from the ground in a second or magically appear in your hands. Coins could be spewed from the mouths of volcanoes instead of ash and lava, anything, _anything _could happen if you wished it – as long as what was wished for wasn't _living_ – an animal or another human.

Some people made themselves rulers with jewels on their fingers and robes made of expensive material around their shoulders. Others lived in a little house with robotic mice as friends. A few were knights and killed dragons. The possibilities were endless.

Neko-chan's Utopia was a forest filled of signs telling you which way to go, a tent in the centre of it. Inside the tent was a space almost as big as Heart Castle, although it didn't look like it from the outside. Other times it was just a regular tent. This was where she lived and slept – even though since you weren't actually _living _you didn't need to eat, drink, go to the toilet, sleep, and the like. Most people still did anyway out of habit.

Although she had a Utopia to herself, Neko-chan despised it. It reminded her of the life she used to have, with Ace by her side. But Ace wasn't in this realm, so Neko-chan often followed Nightmare around. Inside her Utopia she could do whatever she liked, but as soon as she stepped outside of it she was powerless.

The same went for everyone else. So Neko-chan had simply copied the Incubus and had almost become as powerful as him. She had given herself the job of the 'guardian of the Pool' (as the others called it), and helped those who had newly arrived. Because of this, the pool had been named the Pool of Tears, because Neko-chan had often been seen crying nearby the pool, aching for her previous life, although it's likely that the Pool had been named that forever.

'Are you okay?' Nightmare asked the girl, frowning. 'You have that look in your eye again.'  
Neko-chan shook her head. 'No… Sorry, I was… Thinking.'  
Nightmare sighed and floated over the Pool, his feet millimetres from the surface. He touched the bottom of his foot to the surface absent-mindedly, watching the mirror-like surface of the Pool quiver as the ripples travelled across its surface.  
Neko-chan held back from once again commenting on his babyish crush on the GM.

She watched the Nightmare for a few minutes. He was walking across the water, skimming his boot across the surface. Eventually he got bored of the ripples and streamed a tiny amount of power into his boot so that where it touched the water, a layer of ice formed. He 'danced' across the Pool, brushing his feet across the water, faster, faster… The ice formed higher, higher, forming some sort of shape… Patterns danced across the ice, tiny snowflakes, swirling across the frozen water.

The Nightmare finished and faded away, not even bothering to look at his work. Neko-chan looked at the finished result, blushing slightly and a smile creeping across her mouth. Nightmare had created an almost perfect replica of the cat-girl. She was kneeling on the ice with a clock in her hands and her head bent in silent grief. The ice-girl wore a dress of dark blue and white snowflakes. The snowflakes also touched her loose hair and one on her cheek, right where the upside-down heart would have been if it were Sawa.

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**Author comments! Okay, it's going to be short this time. I'm just gonna say that this is the last pre-written chapter. I've done about half of Ten and you'll have it within... 5 days. Depends on how many visitors the story's getting. **

**I just remembered what the name of the Chapter was. So! Who ships what? I'd like to know. PM me! The ships might be included. Would anyone ship SawaxBoris? It was included in the RP but I'm probably not going to include it unless it's requested. Alice might be brought back if you request Alicexanother character. Even AlicexOC or OCxOC. And don't forget the Gamemaster, Nightmare and the Jokers. I know my friend ships AcexBlack Joker so it might be included later... Hmmmm...**

**Canons in the Fanfic so far:**

**AcexPaige  
****WrenxSawa  
****AcexNeko-chan**

**And you can decide whether or not NightmarexGamemaster and NightmarexNeko-chan is canon. **

**I also like shounen ai and yaoi so if anyone ships any of those couples (like… AcexJulius) feel free to tell me! **


	11. No Shit, Sherlock

**Fact of the Chapter - Sawa enjoys 'Afterimage Hunting', which involves chasing afterimages around and attempting to kill them in various ways with various weapons and then getting amused and irritated with the weapons do naught.**

**Okay, I should have done this sooner. Oh well. Credits. Yay. Well firstly I have to give credit to DarkKitten666 for my use of her character Neko-chan and her relationship (as lovers) with Ace. Read her story, "Escape my Role". It's pretty damn good. Also to my friend in RL who I shall not name - but you know who you are if you're reading this. She was the one who started this and the whole fanfiction/RPG. My life would be empty without this XD **

******And thirdly, review it. I'm seriously getting irritated. I've reached 700 hits but I only have 5 reviews. If you read it, _review_ _it. _Even if you're yelling at me, telling me that it sucks and that Ace is seriously OOC and you hate it, I'd appreciate it. BECAUSE YOU ACTUALLY SAID SOMETHING. NOW REVIEW IT. I won't be posting another chapter until I get at least 5 more reviews. Thank you for your consideration if you _do _review. May Sawa steal your marshmallows if you don't. **

* * *

Daylight streamed through the window; walking Ace up, his mind foggy. _Where am I…? _He groaned and looked around, trying to get his non-existent bearings. _I'm… In my room. Of course. Uhhh… How long have I slept…? _He crawled/fell out of his bed and shuffled over to his hourglass on a table a few metres away, his sheets still wrapped around him. _One… Two… Three time changes…? _Ace sighed and suddenly the contents of his stomach were on the floor in front of him.

_Ohhh… _Ace groaned again and shook his head. _What happened…-? _His memory of the night before started seeping back when he noticed the glass scattered around his room. _Did I get drunk…? Alcohol… Mmm… _Ace fumbled around for a bottle and let the last few drops fall onto his tongue.

Ace tried, unsuccessfully, to get up a few times, and eventually managed to stand up and stumble over to his cupboard before he fell over. He reached up, trying to find the handle, and eventually gave up, simply crawling back to his bed and back onto it. Sleep came within a matter of seconds.

It was a few hours before Ace woke up again. His mind wasn't as foggy and he could at least control most, if not all, of his limbs. The mess had mysteriously been cleaned up, and Ace made a mental note to give thanks to the maids. _Heh. Wonder what I should give them. _Ace didn't need to think too hard and smiled as he imagined what the coming night would bring.

He yawned and climbed out of bed, wrapping his white sheet around him. He couldn't be bothered getting dressed, he'd just eat in his sheet and then maybe get dressed afterwards.

Maids looked at him and whispered and giggled behind his back as Ace walked to the dining hall in his sheet. Ace didn't feel particularly self-conscious – he never did – and so he enjoyed the attention. He sat down and started filling his plate with whatever was near him and started eating, not really paying attention to the food in his mouth. He was almost always half-asleep when he ate.

Ace was done by the time that Sawa came running into the room. He scowled and walked away towards where he thought his room was, but Sawa spotted him and went racing over.  
'AAAAAACE! STOP! WHY'D YOU RUN AWAY THE OTHER DAY?' She yelled out.

Ace let out a snarl. _Bloody girl! Stop yelling it out, dammit! _He ignored her and kept on walking.  
'ACE! STOP!' Sawa had reached him. Ace walked quicker.  
Sawa stepped on his sheet, tearing it from his grip. Ace grabbed the sheet just before it dropped past his hips – he wasn't wearing anything underneath the sheet.

'Get. Off. My. Sheet.' Ace said coldly.  
'Or what?' Sawa asked; determination obvious in her voice.  
'Or… Or I'll just keep on walking.'  
Ace felt the pressure from his sheet disappear and he walked off - with his sheet.

Ace sighed and sat down on his bed with his sheet wrapped around his hips. _Bloody girl! I don't see why I had the slightest interest in her! _He sighed and sorted through his clothes on the floor, looking for one item in particular. A clock, to be exact.  
…_Found it!_

Ace took the clock from a secret pocket on the inside of his coat. Even Sawa didn't know about either the clock or the pocket. Julius had let him keep the clock because it was the only clock that he hadn't been able to fix, no matter how hard he tried. Ace bit his lip. _He was able to fix all of them but the only clock I care about? The Gamemaster has cursed me yet again. _

Ace pressed the clock against his chest and felt the coldness of the metal. A tear ran down his cheek and fell onto the clock.  
'Neko-chan…' Ace whispered as he thought of his previous lover. She had died about four years ago of a mysterious disease that had weakened the both of them but only killed her. They had met a few years before her death when she was just a maid at Heart Castle, but she had become the Knight's squire when he had gone to the Incubus a few weeks later.

He sighed and placed the clock back inside the secret pocket in his coat. He stood up and let the sheet slide to the floor before pulling on his clothes – the coat included. He carried the clock around everywhere, but usually didn't take it out. People could see it and take it from him, something he definitely didn't want.

Ace slid his sword into its sheath just as his squire burst into the room. 'Ace, the afterimages are here!' she announced, her eyes shining. Ace looked at her for a few seconds, wondering how to react, before deciding on shrugging and walking out of his room, letting her guide him down to the stables. He quickly tacked up Positivity before mounting her and setting off at a trot, following the afterimages that led him to those precious clocks.

Ace and Sawa arrived at the Clocktower two time changes later with a bagful of still clocks. More people than usual had resisted and so the bag was twice, three times as full as it should have been. It was a shame - Julius would yell at him. Ace didn't consider the fact that the faceless were just as protective of their clocks as he was of his.

Ace and Sawa burst into Julius' room with the usual enthusiasm and greetings. Julius had the usual reaction with his 'oh; Ace, Sawa, hello', and then returning to his tinkering and coffee. 'You have clocks for me?'  
'Yeah.' Ace dropped the bag in front of the man.  
'Thank you. Now stop bothering me and go do something useful.'

Sawa was inspecting a bottle on a nearby table. 'Julius, who gave you this wine?'  
'Oh, Blood left it. Have it if you want.'  
'Really?! Thanks Julius!' Julius got a free Sawa hug.  
Julius sighed and let her hug him.

Ace chuckled before reaching out to grab the bottle.  
'Oh no you don't!' Sawa snatched the bottle away and cradled it protectively.  
'Can't I have any?' Ace asked, puppy-faced.  
'No! It's mine! And I'm not sharing!'  
'Well, you're not particularly nice, are you? I'm surprised that the Hatter boy fell for you.'  
'Coming from the person who admitted their eternal love for me.'  
'I did _not_! I just-'

'May you please move your argument _outside?_' Julius asked with a sigh. 'I can't work with this racket.'  
'Actually, I'm going – to share the alcohol with _Wren_.' Sawa stalked off towards the Hatter mansion.  
'Damn, my compass is gone.' Out of all the things he felt at Sawa leaving him to go see Wren, this was the one he chose to voice.

Julius ignored the comment. 'Well, at least she won't get drunk here.'  
Ace narrowed his eyes in thought and chuckled softly before smiling that well-known smile of his. 'Mmm, nice of you to be positive for once, Julius.' He turned around and left the tower without a goodbye.

* * *

Julius sighed as the Knight left. _Finally, he's left. It's irritating how he does that, interrupting my work without prior warning. But… _The Clockmaker frowned. _I guess it's a good thing how he's getting over her. For him, maybe… Not for everyone else. But then again Ace tends to get violent when the slightest thing upsets him… _Julius shook his head and sighed as he remembered the few times that the mysterious knight had shown true sadness. _He was so cute and innocent as a kid. Why has the Gamemaster pushed him to this limit?_

Julius usually steered clear of thoughts of the Gamemaster. He had accepted long ago that he was a small part in a continuous cycle and that his life didn't matter. He had more respect for his own life that someone like Ace (_Although I've noticed that recently he's cared about his life more than he has before, _Julius commented to himself), but he didn't involve himself in higher matters or the Rolemasters themselves, besides the Incubus. Even thinking about them could involve yourself in ways that you would shudder at the thought of.

But today… he couldn't help but silently ask the woman with the most important Role in Wonderland:

_Why Ace?_

* * *

'Julius.' The voice send a shiver down the man's spine. _Black…? What's he doing here? _He dared to look up at the Joker standing next to him.  
Joker smirked and run his whip through his fingers. 'The Gamemaster heard you questioning her.'


	12. That Blasted Squire

**Fact of the Chapter. Wren and Sawa genuinely love eachother, neither of them are faking it to take advantage of the other or something like that. Ace also genuinely cares for Sawa although he can really hate her sometimes too. Paige genuinely loves Ace but nobody cares about her. Ace doesn't really care for Paige. Aaand that's all that's important/I'm gonna tell you. **

**PLEASE TAKE THE POLL ON MY PROFILE. THANK YOU. **

**I SHALL GIVE YOU A SPOILER IF YOU DO SO AND PM ME. **

* * *

Sawa was still at the Hatter's. It was three time changes after she'd left and she was still there. Ace sighed. _She's as annoying as hell, but it's so damned quiet when she's not here. _He fiddled with his sword as he lay in the grass outside Heart Castle.

Paige was quite dull. Flirting with her was as boring as following Alice around had been. And so, he'd had basically nothing to do since Sawa had left him at the Clocktower. He'd slept with a maid last time change – which had been relatively interesting – but he was yet to find something that could entertain him for a few time changes.

_I never realized how much I depend on Sawa for amusement. _Ace sighed and went back to fiddling with his sword.

* * *

It took Sawa another full time change to get her ass back over to Heart and her boss.

'Sir Ace, there's good news and bad news for you.' A maid informed Ace, shaking him gently to wake him from his sleep. Ace was still on that patch of grass outside Heart Castle.

'Eh-? Oh, okay.' He yawned. 'Give me whatever first.'

'Your squire's back.' The maid informed him.

'Is that the good news or the bad news?' Ace asked, confused.

The maid ignored him and gave him the other piece of news. 'She's drunk.' She waked away before Ace could ask any for any further details.

'Damn, I can't figure out which is good and which is bad.' Ace muttered before sighing and walking over to Heart Castle. _Well, this might be amusing. Wonder what the hell she's gonna do..._

* * *

'Ace~! I'm so glad you're back~' Sawa slurred as Ace entered her room.

_What the hell? Is Sawa on _drugs_ as well as being drunk-?_

Sawa wobbled over to Ace and hugged him, giggling.

_EH—?! _A blush crept over Ace's face. 'S-Sawa?! What the hell?! You're freaking me out!'  
Sawa smiled up at Ace.

_This behaviour—It's so freaking _unusual _for her that it's scary… _

'Umm… Sawa… You can let go of me…' Ace mumbled and pushed her away.

Sawa sat down on her bed crossed-legged. She tilted her head to the side a bit and frowned at Ace.

'Doesn't Ace like Sawa?' She asked.

_Don't give me that look… You don't know what I'll do to you if I give in… _

'Of course I… _Like _you.' Ace said awkwardly and sat next to her. Sawa snuggled up to him. 'Does Sawa like Ace?'

Sawa gave him an adorable smile and didn't respond.

_Ohhh… Gamemaster, give me enough self-control to stop myself…_

Sawa was so close that he could smell the marshmallowy scent that always clung to her. Hell, it smelt like she _bathed _in the stuff. Ace shook his head in amazement and wrapped his arms around her, lying down on the bed with her snuggled up next to him. _I'll satisfy myself with this… Any more and I won't be able to stop…_

* * *

Ace opened his eyes a while later. …_Eh? Opened my eyes? Whoops, I must have fallen asleep. _Sawa was still next to him.

Ace moved his arm slightly, pulling her closer; which caused his squire to stir.

'Wren…?' She whispered.

_WREN-? SHE'S EXPECTING-WREN-_

Ace pushed her out of the bed and stormed out of the room before Sawa had even registered that it hadn't been Wren lying in her bed.

* * *

An hour later, however, it _was_ Wren who she was snuggled up to. They were in the woods behind the Hatter Mansion, and had snuck out when nobody had been watching. A picnic blanket was spread out in front of them; food was spread out on top of it. The food that they'd eaten whenever Sawa had started visiting Wren (Wren never visited Sawa in case Ace turned up, they figured that Ace was worse than Blood) had mainly consisted of marshmallows since Wren had discovered that it was her favourite food. It was kind of like Elliot with his carrot dishes.

'Another marshmallow?' Wren held one between his thumb and index finger.

'Stupid question,' Sawa whispered and let Wren hand feed her.

'I swear you like those more than me.' Wren snorted.

'That's another one of your stupid questions,' Sawa informed him with a slight pout.

'Knew you loved me more.' He grinned and kissed her playfully. Sawa melted within seconds and the pair made out for a few heartbeats.

'Now you're as stupid as Ace,' breathed Sawa before pushing him away.

'I feel sorry for the guy, you keep insulting him at every chance you have.' Wren laughed.

'He deserves it,' Sawa retorted before continuing, 'anyway. Those marshmallows are better than you'll ever be.'

'Is that a challenge?' Wren raised an eyebrow.

'It might be,' Sawa declared and let out a muffled squeal when Wren practically fell on top of her and pinned her to the picnic blanket before making out with her.

...

_She gives in so easily, _Wren chuckled to himself as he kissed the Knight's squire. _It's so adorable how she goes all I'm-so-tough-I-don't-need-you and then gives up as soon as my lips brush against hers. She's crazy about me, just as I am about her. _Wren pulled apart, breathless, and like Sawa pretended that his heart wasn't doing backflips.

'Tell me I'm better than those marshmallows,' Wren demanded.

'Never!' Sawa declared with a grin and leaned forwards, kissing Wren playfully and catching him of guard.

'What if I stopped kissing you?' Wren muttered over a mouthful of lips.

'You wouldn't be able to resist my charm for long,' Sawa responded smugly. Wren sighed slightly, she was right, damn her. Although, he could try.

He pushed her away.

'Hey!' Sawa protested. Wren smirked slightly.

This time it was Sawa's turn to sigh. She snuggled up to Wren, which caused Wren to cave in instantly and wrap his arms around her protectively.

'Okay, fine… You're… Just as good as those marshmallows.' Sawa muttered.

Wren grinned triumphantly.

Sawa blushed and buried her face in Wren's shirt. Wren smiled softly and wrapped an arm around her.

Wren suddenly frowned. 'Hey Sawa…?'

She looked up at him. 'What is it?' She asked gently.

_What if the Gamemaster doesn't approve of us? _He sent the thought to her. They were so close that they had developed a weak telepathic connection between the two of them. It only worked when they were right next to each other and sometimes it didn't work that well, but it was still there.

_I don't care if she doesn't approve of us; _Sawa responded boldly, _I won't let her hurt you. I… I love you, Wren._

Wren smiled softly. 'Thought you'd never admit it.'

* * *

It was another four time changes before she went back to Heart Castle. Even though she had to leave Wren, she was still in a fairly good mood; which wasn't even spoilt when she bumped into Ace.

Unfortunately, Ace wasn't in a good mood.

'Where. Is. It.' Ace demanded.

'Where's what?' Sawa snapped.

'Sorry to burst your bubble, sweetheart, but I've lost something very important to me. And I know that you've taken it.'

'I haven't taken anything of yours, and if I had I would have destroyed it by now.' Sawa told him with a scowl.

Ace ignored her and forcefully pulled her coat off before going through her pockets.

'HEY!' Sawa yelled and swiped at her coat. 'GIVE IT BACK!'

Ace suddenly let the coat drop to the ground and a relieved look appeared on his face. He cradled an object to his chest.

Sawa picked up her coat and put it on before looking at what Ace was holding. 'A clock? _That's _what you were ready to beat me up over?'

Ace gave her a look of death before walking into his room and slamming the door behind him.

'HEY! WAIT UP!' Sawa raced after him.

'What the hell do you want?' Ace snapped when Sawa had raced into his room.

'Why is that clock so important to you?' Sawa demanded.

'Julius can't fix it. It's an unfixable clock. I keep it with me because its proof that the game isn't prefect, that there are flaws, and that the Gamemaster doesn't always win.' Ace sighed. 'Why'd you take it?'

'Because it's a clock. I was going to give it to Julius, but if it's can't be fixed then I guess there isn't much point…' Sawa thought for a bit. 'Why are you so protective of the clock? …Did you know the person it belonged to?'

Ace was silent.

'FINE THEN! I'LL GO TALK TO JULIUS!' Sawa yelled and stormed out of Heart Castle.

* * *

'Didn't think that you would have been the sentimental type.' Sawa commented once she'd gotten back from the Clocktower (yes, she actually went) and found out about Neko-chan from Julius.

Ace scowled and didn't respond.

'At least say you're sorry for yelling at me for taking her clock.'

Ace muttered his apology.

'That's better,' Sawa praised. Ace scowled - Sawa was treating her lie a kid because she felt smug since she found out that Ace had a weakness.

'Well now that you know, I'm telling you know: Don't. Ever. Touch. Her. Clock.'

'Aw, come on, can't you trust me, Ace?' Sawa pouted.

'NO! I CAN'T!' Ace yelled.

'Come on, just for the next time change? Let me carry her clock around.' Sawa asked with the puppy face.

Ace groaned. The puppy face worked both ways – neither could resist when the other did it.

'Fine. One time change,' he sighed.

Sawa smiled and gave him a Sawa hug. 'Thanks Ace!'

_Is she drunk again…? _Ace wondered.

_Hell no I'm not drunk. _Sawa retorted. _I'm just being nice for once. Don't get used to it._

Ace laughed. _Okay, I won't. _

Ace suddenly remembered something. 'Hey, talking about the next time change…' He muttered.

'What?!' Sawa demanded, standing up on her toes and grabbing Ace's shirt, pulling herself up so she kind of reached his eye level. Well, more like neck level. But still.

'TELL ME!'

'It's a swap day tomorrow.' Ace smirked. 'And you're the one who's swapping.'

Swap Day was when one of the Roleholders got a new job for the time change.

'What's the new Role I'm getting?' Sawa asked, curious.

'You're Blood's maid.' Ace responded.

Only two words came into Sawa's mind with this announcement:

_Oh, fuck._

* * *

**Oops. I swore. Oh well. Get used to it. That rating's there for a reason. And I don't do *BLEEP*ing censoring.**

**...**

**Well, thankyou to DarkKitten666 for reviewing. You were the one person who did. Thanks also to EarthRiddle who PMed me a while ago. I hope you get around to reviewing time sometime!**

**Okay people, don't forget to REVIEW and FOLLOW. Tell me if you like the new way I've set this out - in lines instead of paragraphs. And if you lazy people can't be bothered doing that, then at least HEAD OVER TO MY PROFILE PAGE AND TAKE THE POLL (Yes, it's about this fanfic). Like I said above.**

**PLEASE TAKE THE POLL PEOPLE IT MEANS A LOT TO ME**

**AND SAWA**

**AND ACE**

**AND WREN**

**YOU KNOW YOU SHIP ACExWREN**

**SO TELL ME, TELL ME, TELL ME! *goes all Sawa on your lazy asses***

**AND DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW.**


	13. Tick, tock

**Fact of the Chapter: Sawa and Wren knew each other from when they were little. They were friends and used to play together, but when they were about 10 Wren disappeared and they didn't see eachother until Chapter 8.**

* * *

Sawa shuddered as she remembered the announcement. _Sawa will become the Hatter's maid for a day! Why _Sawa, _dammit?! Why _ME_?! _Blah blah blah, she yells and screams. All that usual stuff.

Ace hadn't been able to stop himself from laughing. Even after Sawa had punched and kicked him numerous times he hadn't been able to stop. The only time that Sawa had found it relatively amusing was when Ace had _giggled. _

_He'd _giggled. _What. Ace… Giggling?_ Sawa grinned at the memory.

But then Blood came into the room with the dreaded item of clothing in his hands and burst her bubble. Sawa blushed and crossed her arms over her chest. Blood had demanded that she stripped to her underwear so he could tell what size dress to get her, that bastard.

_PERVERT! _She mentally screamed at him and stepped backwards, pushing the uniform away when he shoved it at her.

Blood smirked. 'Nuh-uh~, you have to do what I want, or else the Jokers will have you.'

Sawa sighed. What Blood had said was true. The Jokers could have her for a day if she disobeyed him. A whole freaking day for just disobeying him _once. _As much as Sawa hated the Hatter, she knew that he was only half as bad as the Jokers. And a whole day with Blood without complaint was better than… However many days she would have to be with the Jokers.

And at least Blood had _some _dignity. The Jokers – or more specifically, _Black – _would have no shame and would do anything and everything to her. And Black wasn't the sort to _go easy on her, _if you know what I mean.

Sawa sighed and took the dress before pulling it on. At least the Uniform wasn't horribly revealing. _Ugh. Ace could – Ace _would - _do worse. I should be glad._

'What do you want me to do?' Sawa asked between gritted teeth.

Blood grinned and stepped closer to her, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her closer. He lifted her chin up with his other hand. Sawa shuddered and used all of her strength to not push him away. _The Jokers, the Jokers. Don't forget the Jokers… Dammit, I _hate _this man! He knows that the only one who I let do this to me is Wren, his Squire! And I wouldn't even let _him _if he was acting this creepy! _

'Too scared to cheat on your boyfriend?' Blood smirked.

'Who's your squire!' Sawa snapped. 'You're a horrible boss, you know that?'

'Yes, I know.' Blood grinned and surprisingly let her go. Sawa took a few steps away from him, wrapping her arms around herself and shuddering.

'Oh come on, I'm not that bad, am I?'

'YES YOU ARE!' Sawa yelled.

Blood smirked. 'Why thank you, I'm glad I'm living up to your expectations.'

Sawa scowled.

'Hm…' Blood pretended to think. _As if he hadn't already thought about what he's going to make me do, _Sawa thought bitterly.

'I think I'm going to take a bath. You're going to be with me and do whatever I ask you to do,' Blood decided with a grin.

_BLOOD—MAID—BATH?!_ Sawa totally freaked and tried not to let it show.

Blood grinned. 'See you in, hm, 5 minutes. Don't be late.'

Sawa shuddered as she thought about the torture yet to come. _Bye bye, virginity… Bye bye, innocence. _She could practically see them flying away.

* * *

Sawa, after asking a maid, eventually found her way to the shared bath. She had been horrified to find out that the maids were only allowed to bathe in the shared bath – meaning that the maids were free to be abused by Blood if he chose the right moment to take a bath. _Ugh... I feel so sorry for them…_

Well, anyway, like I said, she found her way to the bath. She came across a good thing and a bad thing when she arrived.

Good thing? It wasn't just Blood.

Bad thing? Wren was there. Naked. In the freaking bath. Sitting next to Blood and Elliot. Dee and Dum were in their child formes a bit further away, playing with some bath toys; but the older men were laughing and sharing a bottle. That is, until Sawa came.

'Oh, hi Sawa!' Elliot greeted as if it was perfectly normal for Sawa to be in a Hatter maid uniform and for him to be naked in the bath.

'Hi… Elliot…' Sawa was friends with Elliot from when Sawa once went over his place and they talked about guns and how they hate Ace.

This was when Dee and Dum noticed. 'Onee-chan! Come join us! We've got toys!'

Wren muttered something to Blood which caused him to laugh. Sawa shot a curious glance in his direction and tried to stop herself from jumping in the bath and yelling at him when he shook his head and shrugged.

'Some more wine?' Elliot asked her.

'Tea,' Blood requested. 'Wren? Anything?'

'Something spicy,' he muttered, not looking at Sawa.

Blood laughed. 'I think we all know what Wren _really _wants.'

Both Wren and Sawa went red.

Sawa fetched the drinks.

When she passed Wren his drink, he muttered his thanks.

When she passed Elliot his drink, he smiled at her and simply took it.

When she passes Blood his drink, he grabbed her hand and pulled her into the bath with her.

Sawa screamed. Like, actually _screamed._

Blood laughed.

Dee and Dum cheered.

Elliot says 'huuuh?'

And Wren, poor Wren, was the one who Sawa landed on.

Wren instinctively wrapped his arms around her protectively, pulling her away from Blood and holding her above water level.

'Onee-chan! You've decided to play with us!' Dee and Dum said excitedly and tried to pull her away from Wren.

'LET ME GO! ALL OF YOU!' Sawa screamed and pushed Wren and the twins away. This wasn't a smart idea, since she was so short and her uniform weighed her down in the water. In a few seconds she was yelling for Wren to hold her again so she didn't drown.

* * *

Eventually, Sawa managed to crawl out of the bath, looking like a drowned cat – stupid, drenched and like they could kill whoever pushed them in.

'Wren, help the girl.' Blood calmly ordered.

Wren silently pulled himself out of the bath and took Sawa into the changing rooms.

'Oh, great, these are shared too?' Sawa grumbled.

Wren smiled slightly. 'Mmm, yeah, most things are shared at the Hatter's.'

'Gamemaster save me if Ace becomes the Hatter.' Sawa sighed.

Wren laughed.

Sawa sat down on a bench and stared at her feet (read: Wren's butt) while Wren scouted around for a towel.

_Don't you dare… No… Dammit Sawa, don't check out his butt! Ew! What sort of person ARE you?! Although his butt is totally perfect. But that's not the point._

Wren returned with the towel and Sawa averted her eyes so that she didn't see his _front. _Yes, Sawa could check out Wren's butt, but she couldn't look at his… Well, you know.

'Tell me if you don't like what I'm doing,' Wren murmured before carefully and decently – by decently I mean without feeling her all over like Blood and Ace would – stripping her and wrapping a towel around her.

Sawa went bright red and pulled the towel tight around her, causing Wren to smile.

'You were staring at me, it's only fair that I see you, come on, don't pretend that I haven't already.'

Sawa went red and refused to look at him.

Wren sighed and got up. 'I'll go find you some clothes,' he told her.

'You don't know my size,' Sawa retorted.

'Yes I do.' Wren grinned.

'Perv,' Sawa muttered.

'You know _my_ sizes, I bet, and you were checking out my butt before. You're no better than I am.'

Sawa pouted and didn't argue.

'See? My point exactly. I'll be back in a couple of minutes. If you're worried about Blood, I'll send a few maids to distract him.'

Sawa shuddered at the thought of what the poor maids would go through. 'I will kill that guy someday.'

'And then I'll be Hatter.'

'Yes, that's part of the plan.'

'The plan,' Wren laughed. 'Well, sounds good.'

* * *

Wren came back a while later with a fresh uniform. But…

_Why is Neko-chan's clock in his hand?_

'Lost something…?' He raised an eyebrow.

Sawa blushed and snatched it away.

'Another guy?' He asked gently with a sad look on his face.

'NO! I mean… Yes… But it's not like that!'

Wren just looked at her.

'Ace is… Testing me…' She tried to explain. _Dammit, every time I open my mouth it seems worse! _'I-I…'

Wren sighed. 'You have a reason. You have to. I mean, you hate him… Right?'

'Yes!' Sawa breathed a sigh of relief. _He understands! _

_No, Sawa, I don't. _Wren whispered in her mind.

_I want him to trust me… So that he's not horrible to me… Ace gave me his previous lover's clock to look after… I know it sounds dodgy but Wren, you have to trust me!_ Sawa mentally cried.

_The only problem with you, Sawa, is that you're so ignorant that you can't see it when it's right in front of your face. _Wren sighed passed her the maid uniform.

'Whadda ya mean, "can't see it when it's right in front of your face"?!' Sawa snapped.

Wren smiles knowingly and left without explaining.

_Wren! _Sawa cried. _Don't leave me!_

Wren didn't look back.

* * *

_2 minutes… Come on, just 2 more minutes… _Sawa was staring at the watch that she had bought herself just for the occasion. _2 more minutes then freedom… I'm outta here the second my time ends. _Although that plan could always be ruined by Wren. _Although that's not likely to happen now… _Sawa bit her lip then moved to other thoughts.

_Uhh… I bet Blood's going to do something to me… But maybe he's going to be nice…? No… That's not his style… But maybe he will…? _Sawa was doing her best to try avoid him without breaking his rules. So far she'd been lucky and didn't have to stay with Joker. But that could easily change…

Blood appeared.

_Shit, shit, shit. _

'Hello, Sawa~, trying to avoid me~?' Blood purred.

'N-No,' Sawa stuttered.

Blood wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close to him. 'You know, I never got that kiss.'

'Really?' Sawa played dumb.

'Oh, Sawa, you're so cute.' Blood chuckled and his hand crept up her stomach towards her chest.

Suddenly the hand stopped.

'What's this you have in your pocket?' Blood asked, suspicious. 'You didn't have any items on you… I don't think.' He frowned.

'I-It's something Wren gave me,' Sawa mumbled.

_Liar. It's Ace's. _A voice back in Sawa's mind taunted her. Was it Ace himself? Wren? Nightmare? Or just herself? Sawa ignored it. _Shuddup. And Wren technically _did _give it to me._

'Really? Let's see it.' Blood pulled out Neko-chan's clock before Sawa could protest. 'A clock?'

'Um, yeah, it was, um…' Sawa couldn't think up a decent excuse.

'The only one that I know who carries around a clock is Ace,' Blood raised an eyebrow questioningly. 'Sure you weren't lying?'

_Oh, Blood knows about Neko-chan? Great. Just great. _

Blood read her expression and smirked. 'Oh, yeah, I know about Neko-chan. Knew her when she was alive, too. All the Roleholders know. They were all over eachother, Ace and Neko-chan; it actually was quite pathetic. He carries her clock around, huh? Cute. I didn't know that, I just guessed at it since Wren wound never do that sort of thing. The fact that he – Wren – is interested in you is quite amazing. He doesn't do love, never has.'

'Isn't that nice to know,' Sawa said dryly.

Blood laughed. 'Anyway. Where was I? Ah yes, Neko-chan's clock. Why do you have it? Stole it off Ace?'

'Why does everyone assume that?!' Sawa snapped before sighing. _The Jokers, the Jokers. _'Ace trusted me. He said that he'd be friendlier if I could get through today without damaging or losing it.'

She looked at her watch. _10… 9…. Keep talking… 7… 6…_

'Aw.' Blood laughed. 'Well, I'm afraid I have to go. Bye, sweetheart.' And with that last word and a second to go, he hurled the clock as far as he could down the corridor.

Sawa pushed him away and ran as fast as her tiny legs could carry her towards the clock. _DAMMIT, ACE IS GOING TO __**MURDER **__ME IF I LET IT BREAK..!_

She dived for it…

The clock fell…

Closer and closer to the ground…

And finally landed.

In front of Sawa's outstretched fingers.

The glass was smashes, pieces scattered on the ground. The landing came with a horrible _crunch _and a loud _SMASH! _as the glass shattered.

_Noo… Oh no… Ace is going to hate me…_

* * *

'Sawa!' Ace turned around as soon as he sensed his squire's presence in the stables. 'Are you okay?!'

Sawa bit her lip.

_Sawa…? Did Blood do something to you? _He asked gently. Sawa almost cried from how nice he was at the moment and how mad he'd be in a few seconds.

'Mad?' Ace questioned.

Sawa took a deep breath and held out the smashed clock.

_She's…  
Gone._

Ace wasn't mad. He didn't yell at her, he didn't blame her. He simply pushed past Sawa  
And ran into the woods  
To lose himself in their paths  
And mourn where nobody would see him.

* * *

_A while earlier in Nightmare's realm…_

A scream ripped through the air. Nightmare stepped through space to the source of the noise, the feminine, familiar scream. _Neko-chan!_

She had collapsed onto the swirling darkness of the ground, clutching her chest, howling, screaming, clawing.

_My… CLOCK!_

'NEKO-CHAN!' Nightmare yelled and raced over to her. _No… Don't leave me… _He kneeled down next to her, taking her trembling hands in his and holding them tightly. _Neko-chan... Stay with me... It's not smashed, just broken, temporarily, I promise._

Neko-chan gasped for breath and looked at him desperately through her tears.

_Ace. Do it for Ace, Neko-chan, STAY, DAMMIT! _

Neko-chan let out a wail and Nightmare could the faint _tinkle _of her clock breaking in the real world.

_This can't be happening!_

Without thinking, Nightmare lifted Neko-chan's chin up with one of his hands and pulled her close with the other. A few seconds later, his lips were pressed against hers.

_Nightmare…? _Neko-chan whispered in his mind. _What…?_

_It, um, I'm, uh, giving you some of my strength so…_

Neko-chan smiled slightly. _Thanks, Nightmare._

* * *

After a few minutes Nightmare pulled away with a blush. _Um, you okay now?_

_Yeah, I think so… _With a sigh Neko-chan fell asleep.

_Um… Good thing? Ugh, I'm hopeless at this stuff. _Nightmare sighed and picked her up before taking Neko-chan to her Utopia and placing her on her bed. He really didn't know what else to do.

The one thing that he did know is that he possibly saved her life.

_Ace seriously owes me, _he grumbled. _The Gamemaster's going to murder me. _He smiled sadly and kissed Neko-chan's cheek softly. _Well… She'll have to wait, I guess. She's not the most important woman for me at the moment._

* * *

**Le excuses for posting late.**

**A:** UJSCH the RPG ended and I drowned in a sea of feels.

**B:** Shinji died and I drowned again in a second sea of feels.

**c: **I was over at a friend's place for the whole weekend and we watched BBC Sherlock the whole time and RPed until 4 in the morning.

**D: **Didn't have time for it.

**E: **On Howrse. Friend me. International version - my user's "Spottedwing". RP with meh. I'm lonely.

* * *

**REVIEW.  
**Yell at me. Please.

**TAKE THE POLL.  
**Tell me what should be canon and what shouldn't.  
I will listen, you know.  
The NightmarexNeko-chan here is an example of how nice I am.

**GO IN MY FORUM!  
**I have UJSCH RP. Nobody's taken Sawa.  
Or Wren.  
Or anyone except Ace who I took.

Okay...

**I'm going to resist the temptation and not go on FanFiction and my email which notifies me about stuff for a week.**

If you guys start the RP by yourselves,

Take the poll,

Review,

And maybe PM me,

I'll reward you with...**  
**

**OPPA ACE-KUN STYLE.**


	14. Broken Souls and Broken Hearts

**Fact of the Chapter:** I've run out of facts that aren't spoilers. I've changed it to "Song of the Chapter" which is basically a song that I think a certain character would sing.

**Song of the Chapter: **"Hey, Soul Sister" by Train. I started listening to this and suddenly imagined Nightmare singing it for Neko-chan. I had to stop myself from fangirling in the middle of class...

Well, 13. Here you go...

* * *

Neko-chan woke up hours later.

She sleepily moved herself into a sitting position and looked around. Nightmare was long gone.

But there was someone in his place, standing a few metres away from her.

_The Gamemaster._

Neko-chan had never seen the woman, but she recognised her as easily as if the woman was her mother. Her tail puffed in shock and her ears lay flat against her head in irritation. She narrowed her eyes at the woman, her tail swishing slightly. _What's _she _doing here?_

The first thing that Neko-chan picked up was her height. She was probably taller than Ace, around the same height or even taller than most of the men in Wonderful Wonder World. _She can change how she looks, right? Guess she likes being tall. She's skinny, too. Makes her look like model or something. _Neko-chan snorted at the idea of the Gamemaster modelling.

Neko-chan looked her over. _Hm, I can see why Nightmare has a thing for her. _She had wavy blonde hair that went down to her hips. Her face was unscarred, and she had defined cheekbones. A white mask concealed her eyes.

Her clothes were white once again. She wore a simple v-neck shirt with a light coat over the top that went down to her knees. Boots concealed her feet, and her legs were covered with a pair of trousers. Although the clothing didn't do much to hide her curves.

_For someone who can change how they look, they're quite feminine, _Neko-chan mentally commented.

The woman's face showed little expression. Her lips were pursed slightly as if she would rather be elsewhere, and what little of her eyes that Neko-chan could see were cold, uncaring.

Neko-chan knew without a doubt that this woman could easily crush anyone in her path without blinking an eye.

'Come to show off your figure?' She boldly commented. 'Someone jealous that I've stolen Nightmare's heart away from them?'

'I don't care for men, he's all yours.' The Gamemaster responded curtly.

_Pfft. Her voice reeks of femininity._

'Why are you here?' Neko-chan asked, cutting the crap and getting straight to the point. _I don't like this woman… She doesn't seem… Right. _Cats were generally good at judging character, and the Gamemaster really didn't seem all that wonderful.

'I've come to warn you: Keep away from the Incubus. Stop trying to reach the Knight of Hearts. Love is a pathetic emotion; it gets in the way of things. Lose it, forget it, don't go back to it.'

'Warn me?' She snorted. 'And they have _names, _you know. They have them for a reason. Use them. And I thought you just said that he was all mine.'

'If you stop meddling, I _will kill you_.'

'Ooh, you're going to _kill me, _are you? Squash the troublesome bug? Because I'm sure that-'

'If you don't stop meddling with the Game then I shall harm the Knight.' The Gamemaster cut off.

_Damn her! _Neko-chan was torn between being pleased that she'd meddled enough to be paid a visit from the Gamemaster herself and pissed that Ace was brought into this.

'And you have to stoop so low as to threaten my lover?' Neko-chan snapped.

'It works; and he's not your lover. _Previous _lover, maybe, but not current. You're dead. And excuse me if I'm wrong, but isn't Ace currently involved in a relationship with the Outsider? And of course, you'd have to ignore all the affairs before that.'

Neko-chan let out a hiss of irritation. 'He still cares!'

'He's getting over you. It's time to move on.'

'Oh, and since when did you give out relationship advice?' She snapped.

'I'm just telling you how you can avoid being killed. And if you won't listen to anything else that I say, then I'll tell you this: Ace's soul is unstable. Many squires have torn away at his soul, piece by piece, and there's little left. Your clock comforts him, it holds his soul together. If you die, he will know; if you die, he'll likely die along with you or commit suicide.'

'It's… That bad?' Neko-chan whispered. 'I-I knew that it was bad, but not…'

'Heed my warning.' The Gamemaster said before turning around and leaving.

* * *

Sawa was drunk. _That bitch, getting drunk again. Idiot. _Ace grumbled to himself. Sawa had likely done it on purpose so she didn't have to deal with him yelling at her.

_I never would have yelled at her, she should have trusted me. _Ace sighed and bit his lip. Neko-chan's clock was in pieces, yes, but Julius had said there was a slim chance that the clock could be fixed.

Anyway. Back to Sawa.

Sawa was curled up to him, giggling and hiccuping.

_If Sawa acts like this around Wren, I don't see how he could put up with her. _Ace kind of felt sorry for Wren, which he instantly dismissed with a memory of Wren smirking at him. _Ace, don't feel sorry for that bastard! You hate him, remember?_

…_Wren… _Ace suddenly had a thought, a way to take advantage of Sawa being drunk.

_…That's it! _Ace stood up with a triumphant smirk on his face. Sawa looked up at him and grabbed his arm.

'Ace-kun *hic* is going somewhere without Sawa?' She slurred.

'No, actually, you're coming with me.' He picked her up in a princess hug and walked out of his room and (eventually) made his way out of Heart Castle.

'Where are we *hic* going?' Sawa asked.

'To the Hatter Mansion, to see Wren.' Ace replied smugly.

* * *

Wren mentally complained to himself as he went to see the maids in the kitchen. _Wren! Go check on the maids! They have to be doing their job correctly! Wren! Do all this work for me, because I'm a lazy ass and can't do it myself! Why'd I have to get Blood as a boss? Well, I guess Ace might be slightly worse, but Blood treats me like a slave. If Sawa was intelligent enough, she could see that if she was nice to her boss then he would treat her better. _He smiled to himself at the thought of his lover and continued on towards the kitchen with a spring in his step. _Although, I guess my work's quite easy. It's not too bad. And Blood always lets me take a break when Sawa comes over._

Wren chuckled to himself as he remembered a conversation that he'd had with Blood.

'May I take a break?' He'd asked Blood one day.

'Hm?' Blood looked up from his book. 'What for?'

'Sawa, sir. Sawa's here.'

Blood had laughed. 'Ah, love. It makes me feel old to watch you two when you're together.'

'You sound old when you talk like that,' Wren had teased.

Wren continued along towards the kitchen happily and only stopped when he noticed a flash of red in a corridor he was passing.

_Hm? What's this?_

_…Ace?_

Wren frowned and stopped, walking towards him.

_Oh, is he making out with a maid? Blood's not going to be happy._

'Hey, Blood's not going to be pleased if he hears that you've-'

Ace looked up at him and smirked slightly. 'Oh, Wren, hello. Well, if you could call him that'd be great, I'd like to talk to him.'

_He_

Ace waited.

_Was kissing_

'Hey, you okay?' Ace raised an eyebrow.

_Sawa_

'Bye,' Ace whispered when Wren turned around and ran away. 'Don't come back.'

* * *

It took Sawa another four time changes to sober up and get over the hangover. Luckily for Ace, she hadn't realized –or remembered- what he'd done to her. So Ace wasn't at the top of Sawa's _To kill _list. Not at the moment, anyway.

At the moment, Sawa was walking into the gates of the Hatter Mansion. She stopped walking, and as she predicted, Dee and Dum were behind her in a second._  
_

'Onee-chan! Onee-chan!' They greeted happily.

'Hi Dee, hi Dum!' Sawa turned around and gave the twins a free Sawa hug. 'I haven't seen you two in ages!'

'Yeah, you ignored us the last time you came here.' Dee said and pouted slightly.

'Yeah, we wanted to play!' Dum added.

_Huh? I definitely said 'hello' the last time I came... I always do. _Sawa shrugged. _Maybe I just forgot last time. _

'I'm sorry, I'll play later, 'kay? I want to see Wren now.' Sawa explained to the two.

'Aww, Onee-chan's always with Wren, can't you come with us for a time change?' Dum asked.

'Maybe another time,' Sawa said and gave the two another hug before skipping off into the Hatter Mansion and up to Wren's room.

* * *

'Wren?' Sawa asked as she knocked on his door. 'Are you clothed?' She waited for the usual, _No, Sawa, I'm naked, but feel free to come in anyway_, but it didn't come._  
_

Sawa reached the conclusion that he was elsewhere and so let herself in, only to see something she thought she would never see, and something she certainly didn't expect.

_There's a maid... Sitting in Wren's lap... _

'Wren?' She asked, and somewhere in the back of her mind she was embarrassed that her voice quavered and her eyes misted slightly. _What the hell? I'm crying-?_

'Sawa.' She flinched at the coldness in his voice. 'What do you want?'

'What's... _This?' _Sawa managed to regain her attitude and she placed her hands on her hips before motioning to the maid and giving her an icy glare. The maid flushed red and buried her face in Wren's shirt. Irritating her further, Wren gently hushed her and told her that she wasn't in trouble. _Hell, what's this guy thinking? Of course I'm going to murder her. She's just a maid anyway, she's easily replaceable._

'A maid that I was kissing before you interrupted us.' Wren replied simply.

'What happened to _us?' _Sawa asked. 'I-I thought...'

That was when Wren snapped. 'Stop acting like you don't know what happened, Sawa!' He growled, standing up and walking up to her.

'What do you mean, "remember what happened"?!' Sawa snapped, going through her memory for a possible fight. _Oh, well there's... _

'You mean Ace?' She whispered.

'Oh, now you remember, do you, _sweetheart?' _Wren snarled. 'Well, I guess you'll understand, then, why I'm saying this. Us? There is no 'us'. Not anymore. Our relationship as lovers is over.'

Sawa stared at him for a few seconds, before spinning around and running out of the Mansion as fast as she could.

Sawa and Wren never realized that Wren was talking about when Sawa was kissing Ace and Sawa was talking about when she held the clock which Ace gave her.

* * *

**Well, I could only find Part 1 of Oppa Ace-kun Style. I'll have a hunt around and I'll (possibly) have it for you guys before 14. Although you guys totally don't deserve it.**

**And you totally deserved Sawa and Wren breaking up, you non-reviewing marshmallow-stealers! I'll see if this squeezes a review or two out of you! *evil laughter***

**Now, DarkKitten666, I haven't forgotten about you. Thank you for reviewing. Your reward is that the Gamemaster didn't kill off Neko-chan! *laughs*.**


	15. Alcohol and Tears

**Okay, well, sorry for taking so long. But I didn't have enough time with my laptop over the holidays to type. Honestly, you would have had it within a few days if it weren't for the holidays.**

**And yes, I write in 1st person this time. I think it suited this scene more. I might try a few more characters in 1st... Hmmm...**

**Oh, also I think I correct Ace's OOC-ness in this Chapter. PM me or review ideas/comments.**

**Oppa Ace-kun style will come with 15. Promise. I just need to locate Part 2.**

**Song of the Chapter: "Fix You" by Coldplay, sung by Sawa and Ace. I'd like to think that they're helping eachother, fixing eachother, saving eachother...**

**Well, on with the story.**

* * *

**Ace's POV**

…_And then that bitch ran off into the damned woods! Maybe she'll come across that bear. Oh, bear, I remember you. I'll kill that bear some day. Bear needs a name. But I'm not good with names. Maybe I'll call it Wren and it'll be easier to kill. _I grinned as I thought of Wren as a bear. A laugh came a few seconds later at the thought of Julius as a bear. _Oh, Julius, you'd make a funny bear. Maybe Alice will finally like you if you're fluffy enough. _

I sighed as I paced. _Dammit, where _is _she? She should be back my now._

_Maybe she's with Wren._

_Maybe Wren told her that I kissed her infront of him._

_…Maybe… Maybe she hates me now._

_Maybe she doesn't want to come back._

_Maybe she's sorted something out with the Gamemaster…_

I scowled. _Yes, I could imagine the Gamemaster liking Sawa. Oh, why don't you two team up against me? You two bitches suit each other. Yes… They'd either be best friends or worst enemies. Sawa sure does have an irritating stubborn streak._

_But… Where is she?_

I reached out with my mind, trying to bridge the gap of distance between our minds, trying to sense where she was. I couldn't find anything other than her bare presence, indicating that she was at the very least alive and likely still in this country.

'Ah, but why do I care?'I grumbled to myself. 'She doesn't care about me, I shouldn't care about her.'

'Shouldn't indeed,' A smug voice behind me replied.

'_Nightmare,' _I growled. 'I wasn't asking for a response.'

'Aw, come on, I'm here now, aren't I? Deal with me.'

'I'd rather deal with Black.' I retorted.

'You don't know what he's capable of,' Nightmare warned.

'Oh yes I do, I worked for him – remember? That whole fuss with Alice.'

'Ah yes, _Alice. _Julius was quite angry when you tried to pass her over to the Jokers.'

'It was a sacrifice I had to make.' I snapped. 'And anyway, he's gotten over it now.'

'What about Paige?' Nightmare asked curiously. 'Will she suffer the same fate as Alice?'

'Fate?' A new voice asked. 'Someone called?'

I turned around, pulling my sword from its sheath. I was surprised to find that the person in front of me was a kid, a little kid, no older than seven or eight. For the first time in ages, I was so shocked that my sword stopped halfway to his chest. _That kid…  
He looks like Wren._

'I am Wren, dumbass.' The kid responded.

I would have sheathed his sword if the kid hadn't said that. Instead, the tip came closer and lifted up the kid's chin.

'Who are you and what is your business here?' I said coldly.

'Ooh, someone getting upset because I look like your crush's ex?' Wren-kid teased.

'Don't make me kill you.' I had been hesitating because A, the kid had a face; B, I wanted to know how he got here and what his business was and C, because he looked like Wren, and Sawa would murder me if I murdered a cute little Wren-kid. Like Vivaldi and Gray, Sawa had a thing for cute things.

'I am Fate.' Wren-kid replied calmly, meeting my gaze.

I snorted. '_You're _Fate? _Wren _is Fate? And since when was that a Role?'

'There are many Roles that you don't know about, and I am anyone and everyone.' To stress his point he turned into a miniature me, then a miniature Neko-chan, then a miniature Sawa; before eventually going back to Wren.

'Greeeaaat,' I groaned. _Another Nightmare._

'I'm not a Nightmare, I'm Fate itself.'

'Oh, so where's Destiny?' I snapped.

'I don't know, probably bugging someone.'

_Oh, so there is a Destiny._

'Well, can you go away?' I asked, starting to lose my patience.

He let out a dramatic sigh. 'Oh, maybe, maybe not, this world is so _dull; _there's anyone who wants to talk to me these days. I say I'm Fate, they tell me to get out of their way. Nobody appreciates me.'

'I'm sure Nightmare does,' I snap and quickly walk out of the room before they can stop me.

_Damn, I hate those guys._

I was lost. For the umpteenth time or something. In the woods. I hadn't found Sawa and it had been 6 time changes since I had started looking.

_Damn that bitch._

_Hater, lover, friend, with benefits._

_Crush?_

_Squire._

_More…._

I sighed as I walked. _Walked as I thinked. Thought. Thinked. Thoughted._

_Sawa, Sawaed, Sawaing._

_Sawa, Sawaer, Sawaest._

_Wren, Wrenier, Wreniest._

_Fencing, fighting, floating, flying._

_Loving, losing, living, longing…_

_Why do I hate Wren?_

_Why do I love Sawa?_

_Or Neko-chan?_

_Julius?_

_Why do I love?_

_I thought I didn't love._

_What am I?_

_What was I?_

_Psycho-_

_Socio-_

_Path._

_Which?_

_Psychopath, sociopath._

_Sociopath, psychopath._

_Two simple words…_

_I think, for the moment, I'll go with sociopath. Yes, that makes sense. Sociopath._

_So-_

_ci-_

_o-_

_path._

Happy with my conclusion, I started whistling a happy tune.

_Wait, okay, back to the original point._

_Wren, Wren, Wren._

_Sawa, Sawa, Sawa._

_Hate me, hate me not?_

_She loves him, she hates me._

_He… I have no idea how he feels about me._

_I should introduce Wren to Black! That'd be fun._

_Fun, fun, fun._

_Maybe Sawa's mad at me because Wren hates her now._

_Ace, you idiot. Of course she does. She's only a woman. And all woman are emotional…_

_Although Sawa's different._

_Ever so slightly._

_Maybe I _do_ actually care for her… _

_Maybe I shouldn't have-_

It was then that I spotted the flash of red in the tree above me.

_Hey, Sawa! I was thinking about you!_

I climbed the tree. It only took me a few seconds to haul myself up to her height.

'Hey, Sawa! I haven't seen you for- For…' I trailed off.

Sawa had hugged me. _Hugged me. _

'Ah-uh… Sawa…?'

Sawa sobbed into my shirt. Sobbed. Sawa.

_Oh. Oops. _

'H-hey… Shhh… It's, um, okay? It'll be okay?' I tried. I'm not good with emotional stuff.

Sawa let her memories tumble into my mind.

_Wren_

_Wren yelling_

_Wren shouting_

_Wren talking_

_Saying_

_Saying those words_

_Saying that_

_That he didn't want me anymore_

_That he didn't love me_

_That he was a fool to care_

_That _I_ didn't care_

_Wren_

_His face_

* * *

_Was so sad_

_So angry_

_But sad_

_So sad…_

I wrapped my arms around her, gently, oh so gently, not wanting to upset her further. Sawa sobbed, she cried so hard, her tears so real, every one of them paining me, searing me, scalding me. _Maybe I shouldn't have broken them up._

_Is she gonna yell at me? Hate me? I-I don't think want her to-_

And that was when her lips touched mine.

She kissed me, softly, gently, sadly. I was surprised, and so it was a few seconds before I carefully pushed her away.

'Who are you and what have you done to my squire Sawa?' I asked with a sad smile.

'Drowned her in alcohol and tears,' She whispered back.

I kissed her gently. 'Give me the bottle.'

'No,' she whispered defensively. 'It helps me forget.'

'You're stronger than the alcohol.' I located the bottle and took it from her. 'We're going back to Heart Castle. Have some marshmallows.'

'Okay,' Sawa whispered and let me pick her up.

I climbed down the tree and let Sawa point me in the direction of Heart Castle.

* * *

That time change, I went to sleep with the feeling that my relationship with Sawa had stopped crashing, and had started to fly.


	16. I Threw a Wish in a Well

**Song of the Chapter: Hustler-Josef Salvat. Ace could sing it, maybe even Wren.**

* * *

**Sawa's POV**

It was evening when I woke.

Obviously, that didn't really matter, since I slept whenever, regardless of the time of day; since only Outsiders insist on sleeping only at night. Time changes were annoying, and not sequential at all. It would be stupid if a 'Wonderlander' did that.

But for story's sake, I noted that it was evening.

I groaned softly. _Ohh, I feel like crap._

_What… what happened?_

The memories flooded over me.

'Wren…' I whispered, my heart aching. 'Oh Wren, what have I done?' My eyes watered, and I let the tears fall.

Then I remembered Ace, sweet Ace, bloody Ace, damned Ace; Ace hugging me, comforting me, hushing me, carrying me…

_Kissing me._

I touched my lips softly. _Did I really…? Oh, Gamemaster save me, I did. He'll never let me forget that._

With a sigh, I stood up and walked into the bathroom. It was empty – No Ace, like I'd subconsciously expected. A shrug, and then I turned on the shower before stripping and stepping into the water with a bit lip.

_It still hurts me, still scares me, still brings back the memories, even after… How many years? Well, I must have been about 6 years old, and I'm probably 20 now, so_

_14 years? _It was difficult to keep track of time in Wonderland. Few people remembered their birthdays, even less celebrated them.

I remembered my brother. _Oh Jay, how long has it been? I haven't seen you in ages. Ace doesn't give me time to go see people, and I'm not entirely sure where you live now, with Irene and Matthew… _My foster parents. They'd taken myself and my older brother in after our parents had given us to them. I remembered little of my biological parents – I was two or three when Irene and Matthew adopted us.

The time changed to midday, jolting me out of my thoughts. I turned off the water, stepped out of the shower, grabbed a towel and dried myself. The towel wrapped around me, I walked out into my room to find someone there.

_ACE, YOU BLOODY—Wait, huuuuuuh?_

Boris _is here?_

True to her observations, Boris was there; sitting on her bed.

'Hello Sawa.' He said with a sad smile.

I instinctively went on the defensive. 'If you've come to comfort me about Wren or to sleep with me, I ain't interested. Piss off.'

Boris laughed. 'I think you're too used to talking to your boss.'

'All men are like that here,' I snapped. 'Even you. I remember when I first became Ace's squire, you tried to seduce me and then sleep with me.'

Boris grimaced. 'You still remember that?'

'I remember the exact words you used when you were trying.' I sighed.

'Come to the Amusement park with me.' Boris asked. 'The Old Man hasn't seen you in ages. He wants to see you.'

'I'm not an Outsider, can everyone stop treating me like one?' I growled.

'You're the only female Roleholder besides Vivaldi, us men can't help but be interested.'

'There's the Gamemaster. Try seducing her.'

Boris shuddered. 'I haven't met her yet, but from what I heard she's not nice. No way.'

'Come. At least you'll be away from Ace for a while.'

_Well, that's a very good thing. _'I'll come.' I agreed.

* * *

Boris was walking me back to the Castle. I had ended up staying for four time changes. _I never knew the Amusement Park could be so much fun._

_Especially with Boris with me. _

Boris grinned as if he could hear my thoughts. 'So you enjoyed it?'

'Yeah.' I grinned. 'Best fun I've had in ages.'

'Ever since we danced at Blood's ball?' He asked with a slight smirk.

I punched his arm lightly. 'No! I mean, uh, that was okay, but I've done better things since-' I fell silent and bit my lip.

'Oh... Sorry.' Boris said softly. 'Well, you have me now, right?' He looked at me hopefully.

I sighed. _Well, Ace won't like it, and I need to get over _him_, so… _'Yeah.' I kissed his cheek softly.

'Just to clarify things; that means we're dating?'

I smiles slightly. 'If you want. Don't expect anything, though.'

'I won't-…' Boris trailed off as a sword appeared under his chin.

_Ace. _I looked to the man holding the sword. _Piss off._

_No, _He responded stubbornly. _How could you date Boris right after you've been ditched by Wren? Are you throwing yourself at men? You were kissing me a few time changes ago!_

_I was drunk, _I growled.

_No you weren't, just slightly tipsy._

_I must have been very drunk to have kissed _you_, _I mentally snarled.

Ace scowled.

'Stop that. I want to hear what you're saying.' Boris whined.

'No!' We both snapped at the same time. I shot a glare in his direction. He glared back.

'You have no business here, Cat-san.' Ace said to Boris.

'Cat-san? I thought you called us cats _Neko. _Like _Neko-chan.' _Boris calmly responded.

The blade pressed closer up against Boris' neck.

I pushed between them. 'Stop it! Boris is walking me home. And Ace, you have no business in my personal life.'

'Yes I do. It's my business if you're moaning over some guy.'

I flinched.

'I'm going, I'm going.' Boris made a point of kissing me before leaving.

Ace and I glared at eachother for a few seconds.

'Well, I'm off to fence with the Soldiers.' I walked off in the opposite direction.

Sawa caught a thought from Ace. _More likely to kiss them then fence with them._

My dagger was over his clock in a second. _What did you just think? _I hissed.

Ace smirked lazily and repeated his thought.

'Don't make me kill you.' I snapped.

'Go ahead.' He whispered. 'Life is shit anyway.'

'Then I'll leave you alive.' I snarled after a pause, before storming off.

There was one more thought I caught from him before I left.

_Why… Why, after all these years of threatening and trying to kill me, did she leave me alive?_

_Oh Ace, _I thought with a sigh, _I don't even think _I _know._

* * *

A younger version of myself appeared next to me as I walked.

'Destiny,' I muttered without looking at her. 'What is it?'

'I think we both know why you left him alive,' she said with a smile.

I scowled. 'No, just you.'

'Your –although I hate to name him- Fates are entwined in ways you could never imagine.'

I sighed. 'Something big's coming, isn't it?'

'Yes,' Destiny said after a pause of a few seconds. 'Yes, but it won't come for a while. There are Roles in this event that are yet to be filled, characters yet to be introduced.'

'I hope I have a happily ever after,' I muttered, and then suddenly turned to the girl. 'Do I get to kill Wren? What happens to him?'

'Oh, he dies.' She grinned. 'Although I won't tell you how, and I won't tell you why, and I won't tell you when.'

_Wren dies… _I thought to myself. Although I guess I wanted it, I was still shocked.

_Good riddance. And I hope I kill him, with Ace coming right after him._

_Yes… I know why I held back today._

_Ace will die, and at my hands._

_And his death will be marvellous!_

_But it wasn't time. No, not yet._

_I can be patient. I can wait._

_He will die perfectly._

_I owe him at least that much for his kindness._

* * *

**Alice's POV**

I sighed as I read the book for the hundredth time. _The Princess Bride. _It was the Hatter's book, I hadn't managed to return it before I left. _Ah well. I hope he doesn't miss it too much._

So I had to admit that I wasn't too surprised when Blood Dupre arrived infront of me.

'Oh Farm Boy, bring me back to Wonderland.' I smiled as I replied. I had missed the place, the people, and surprisingly; the madness.

'As you wish.' He replied with a slight smirk, before picking me up and jumping down into that same rabbit hole.

* * *

**Yes, Alice is back, and she now quotes _The Princess Bride._**


	17. Yes, but is it African or European?

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**To every person that has read this: I hope you've been with me since the start.**

**To every person that is reading this: Read it all.**

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**To every person that wants more of this: I will be happy to oblige...**

* * *

**Wren's POV**

_Wren. Wren. WrenWrenWrenWren—WREN! _I groaned as Blood woke me up with his nagging.

_Dammit Blood, what the hell is it?_

_I want you. My room. Now. _He left my mind.

_Uhhh, he's so much like her. _A sad smile danced on my lips for a few seconds before returning to a frown, something that was appearing a lot more these days.

With a sigh and a heave, I dragged myself out of bed and spent the next few minutes fumbling around for clothing and pulling it on. The maids had washed, ironed and put away my clothes for me. I preferred them when they were all over the place and crinkly.

_Give thanks for the smaller problems in life, _I remembered my brother saying – _because one day you'll have much bigger problems to focus on. _

_Yes, brother; I think I know what you mean now… Although I think you were talking about something bigger, something yet to come. _Destiny had warned him about such things; that he was a piece in a bigger picture.

_But which piece am I- a corner piece? An edge piece? Coloured, or black-and-white?_

_Or maybe even the centre piece, bursting with colour?_

_The piece the picture wouldn't make sense without?_

_I hope… I hope my piece of close to Sawa's.  
Even if our relationship has fallen apart, I still believe our Destinies lies together; as lovers or something else._

_Wren, _Blood's impatient voice insisted, _Hurry up._

_I'm coming, _I sighed. _I'm coming._

* * *

Blood wasn't alone.

He had a woman next to him, a few years older than him; but still younger than Blood. _Ace's age, probably; 24ish. _Besides that, she looked exactly the same as she did in the photographs- Blood had a few of her.

Yes, even though I hadn't seen her in person, I instantly knew that this woman was Alice Liddell. She was older, and held herself with more confidence; but still the same.

'Wren, this is-' Blood started off.

'Yes, I know who she is.' I smiled to Alice and bowed. 'Hello. My name is Wren.'

'I'm sorry, but I haven't killed your father and don't want to die.' A warm smiled played on Alice's lips.

'You're read _The Princess Bride?' _I questioned, surprised that she knew of it.

'Yes, I'm surprised _you_ have.'

'My father read the book to me when I was sick.' Wren replied with a chuckle.

'My sister read it to me one Sunday.' Alice responded.

'Ah yes, your Sunday afternoon.' I'd heard the maids whisper stories of it. _Alice and Peter._

'You know of me?' A frown appeared on her soft features.

'You're quite famous here.'

'I'll leave you two to it,' Blood said before leaving.

Alice looked as if she was going to protest, but she just ended up shrugging and smiling at me.

'What shall we do?' I asked. I didn't know what Outsiders liked; I had only seen Paige a few times and hadn't formally met one before.

'A picnic? In the Rose Garden?' Alice asked.

Going into Blood's Rose Garden concerned me – nobody;and when I say nobody I mean _nobody – _was allowed in it. But if this woman was game, then so was I. 'As you wish.'

* * *

A quick visit to the Kitchens and we had our picnic basket with everything we'd need. Alice remembered most of the maids, something that I was quite impressed with. She remembered more maids than _I _did, and I was the one living and – yes, I admit it – kissing and sleeping with them.

'I'm surprised you remember them,' I admitted to her. No point in leaving a compliment unsaid.

'I remember most people's faces; everyone in this world is important. A faceless or the Gamemaster, everyone's significant.'

I smiled at that. Believe it or not, Sawa said something similar to me once. She also believes everyone is significant in this world. She's defiant and cute like that.

'What? Do you find that amusing?' Alice demanded.

We reached the centre of the Rose Garden, and I laid out the picnic blanket before piling onto it.

'No, not at all. Just… Someone else I care – sorry, _cared – _about said something similar.'

Alice smiled knowingly, sadly, softly. 'Ah. I see.'

I suddenly remember hearing that Blood looked exactly like Alice's previous lover. Maybe we had more in common that I realized.

'I find that it's best not to dwell on the past.' Alice said gently.

For some reason, that really irritated me. 'Well, don't you come here_ because _you dwell on the past?'

'I'm not entirely sure why I come here.' Alice sighed. 'My sisters, Lorina and Edith, didn't understand me when I talked about Wonderland. They called me crazy. Although Lorina was nice about it.'

'How long has it been since your first visit?' I queried.

'Oh, I'm not entirely sure. It could have been a day, it could have been years. I seem to remember being young, or young_er,_ when I was here, but when I talk to my sisters it seems to have only been a year or two…' She sighed. 'Time here really is messed up.'

I wanted to know what happened to her sisters, Lorina in particular. There were rumours that the Jokers had done something to her, or maybe it was Alice they'd imprisoned, I wasn't sure. But that was personal, and we'd just met, and if she wished to talk to me then she may do so. But until then, I shall not mention it.

We didn't get caught by Blood. So after we finished, we packed up our things and returned the basket.

'A walk?' I suggested.

'Sure.' Alice agreed.

I paused for a few seconds, and then silently took her hand. We walked out of the Mansion grounds, and into the forest. It was evening, but since the previous time change had been night, it was likely that we'd still have a full time change to walk.

I didn't expect something so simple to go so wrong.

And I believe you would be able to guess who we bumped into. Yes, Ace and Sawa! Lost! What luck. What damned, screwed up luck.

They were bickering. I can't be bothered repeating what they were yelling at each other.

Suddenly Sawa stopped, and fell silent.

* * *

**Sawa's POV**

I paused for a second. I could sense a presence, a presence that I hadn't sensed for so many time changes that I'd almost forgotten about. A thought came.

_Sawa. _Simple, basic. My name. But I knew him, I knew who he was.

I turned around, and there he was. No more than 15 metres away from me, just standing there, smiling sadly.

_No, nonono, not him, not, him, please not him-_

_My name, _he whispered in my mind. _Say my name. Let me hear you say It; let me feel your pain._

_My _pain? _I have no pain. You meant _nothing _to me, _NOTHING!

_Sawa? _A different voice this time. Annoying for an entirely different reason.

_Ace. It's… _I couldn't say it.

_The Hatter's Squire? _He suggested. I sighed aloud, and he turned around and followed my gaze.

'Wren.' He greeted.

'Ace.' Wren growled.

Ace noticed it a second before I did.

'Alice?' Ace questioned.

* * *

**Alice's POV**

'Alice? You're back?' A voice asked. I recognized it, and it sent a shiver down my spine. _Who- _I looked up and answered the question.

_Ace._

Why did his name bring such—

And then I heard my screams rip through the air.

* * *

**Ace's POV**

'Alice? Alice!' Wren yelled, obviously panicked, and touched the girl. I wouldn't blame him for being scared; I mean, she was _screaming. _And I had a bad feeling that I knew why.

_Damn… Jokers, this isn't the best time. Fate, Destiny, why her? Gamemaster… You've cursed me yet again._

_Hey Ace, what's this shit about? _Sawa muttered in my mind. She was just standing there, glaring at the Outsider and Roleholder.

_Ah… It might have been me. A little incident that involved myself and the Jokers, nothing too serious._

_Don't tell me that you turned her over to the Jokers. _I was surprised, Sawa sounded genuinely disgusted.

_Maybe?_

She sighed. _But why would she have screamed?_

_Nightmare likely took her memories._

These words were exchanged within seconds, and by that time Alice had stopped screaming and had started trembling.

'Alice? Alice! What happened? What was it?' Wren asked again.

'I… I'm not sure.' It was barely a whisper, but all three of them heard it. 'I-I looked up, and suddenly it felt as if there was a knife thrust into my brain. My memories… It felt like something that happened before, when I was dating Boris. Something to do with the Jokers.'

Sawa gave me a pointed glare. Under regular circumstances, I would have grinned sheepishly, but now I doubt whether I would have been able to smile.

'Boris is dating Sawa now,' I blurted out instead.

Alice fell silent, and slowly looked up at my Squire. Something sparked in her eyes, and she looked shocked for a second or two, before shaking her head and frowning. 'Oh… Well, good for you two.'

A voice whispered doubts my mind.

'_Maybe it isn't a good thing that Alice is back.' _

_'Maybe she never belonged in the first place.'_

_'She should have stayed with the Jokers.'_

_'She never should have come.'_

Who was it? I didn't recognise it.

'_You can do it.'_

_'Take her back.'_

_'The Jokers might fulfil their promise this time.'_

I shook my head. _No, no, no. They lie. I'll never get my clock taken. I'll never escape._

_'Good boy. You know your place in this Game.'_

With a shock, I realized that it was the Gamemaster whispering in my mind.

_'Finally figured out it was me? Took your damned time.'_

_Get out of my mind. You don't belong here! _I growled at her.

_'I'm always in your mind. I can see everything you see, I can hear everything you hear. I know your disgusting habits of ruining those maids, I know about your pitiful love for your squire. I feel sorry for her, quite frankly. You're _disgusting._'_

_JUST GO AWAY! _I screamed.

All three of them stopped and stared at me.

'W-what?' I asked.

'You just screamed at us to go away.' Wren told me flatly.

'Oh, I-I said that out loud?' I was stuttering. I never stutter.

Guess that was the effect that the Gamemaster had on me.

'_Even you can see it. Even you know how ruined you are. Psychopath or sociopath? Ridiculous.'_

_Please… _I begged. I never begged. _Please… Please go away. _Twice. I begged twice.

_'Oh? Twice? I'm special, am I?'_

_Please… Please go away. I'm bloody begging you._

_Oh, if you insist. Count yourself lucky, boy. _

She left my mind.

'Well, nice to see you.' Wren said coldly. 'We'll be going.' He took Alice's hand, and they left.

'Good bloody riddance,' Sawa muttered. 'She doesn't belong here.'

I shuddered. Two powerful women told me almost the same thing in a matter of minutes.

'No,' I agreed. 'She shouldn't have come a second time.'

'I might do a thing or two to fix that,' my squire grumbled.

'Well, make sure you do something before Julius finds out that she's here again.'

Sawa sighed. 'Oh yes, Julius loves her. I forgot about that.'

I smiled sadly. 'Yes, you tend to forget about people's emotions.'

She scowled. 'Don't get your hopes up.'

'I wouldn't dare.'

We walked back to Heart Castle in silence.

Although, it our minds, we were bickering and arguing as we always did.

* * *

**I wasn't particularly motivated to write this chapter. That's why it came late. **

**And I don't really like how I've done this. Once I've finished (which is still a while away, I've got the ending all planned out) I'll likely rewrite it. I don't like Chapter 1. That could be greatly improved. I don't like my previous chapter comments. I seem whiney and annoying, nagging for reviews. I don't like how there aren't spaces in previous chapters. And I don't like it how every chapter Ace's view on Sawa changes. One chapter it's all "Oh I love her so much!", and the next it's "I really hate that bitch". I need to fix it, smooth it out a bit.**

**And I'm trying to fix Ace's OOC-ness, or at least give reason to it.**

**I've just asked a friend for feedback on this Chapter, and she's told me that she doesn't like the switch from one character's POV to another; or the fact that it's in 1st person. So I shall say this-**

**IF ANYBODY HAS A DAMNED PROBLEM WITH THIS-**

**THE CHARACTERS,**

**THE PLOT,**

**PAIRINGS,**

**OR MY WRITING STYLE,**

**(OR ANYTHING ELSE)**

**PLEASE COMPLAIN.**

**IF THERE'S ANYTHING YOU LIKE-**

**(SEE ABOVE)**

**PLEASE SAY SO.**

**IT LETS ME KNOW WHERE I NEED TO IMPROVE SO I CAN WRITE A BETTER STORY FOR YOU. **

**Oops, there it is again with the yelling. Oh well.  
****TTFN - Ta-ta for now~**


	18. Raven and a Writing Desk - Part 1

**I'm splitting this Chapter into two parts, to try it out. Sorry for the long break, but I had a huge writing competition, and I was sick, and it was my birthday, and I didn't have any inspiration or motivation. **

**Anyway, so I thought you might like it how it's; A, shorter; and B, that the next chapter will be finished soon, in the next few days I hope. If I feel like it. **

**If anyone has any requests for this, I'd love it. Even a short sidestory, like Genderbend Day. Would you like that? PM me. **

**Well, here's the Chapter. I hope it makes up for my absence. **

* * *

Sawa scowled and crossed her arms. _Dammit, Ace, why have you forced me to this extreme? _Ace had reminded her the other day about Paige wearing her bikini, so, she was forced, in a way, to wear it. Not officially, but Ace had hinted that he would give it to Paige if she didn't start wearing it. And there was no way in Heaven or Hell that Sawa would let the Outsider own any of her clothes, bikini or otherwise.

Sawa was pretty sure that she had a foolproof plan: Go to the pool, swim, and get one of the maids to mention her wearing her bikini to Ace. Therefore, Ace would know that she actually uses her bikini without him actually seeing it. Flawless, right?

Except for one little thing.

When she arrived at the pool, guess who was already there?

Ace.

And _Paige. _

Sawa mentally groaned, and then cast her thoughts out towards Ace. _Ace. Ace. Ace. Ace!_

Ace looked up. _Who's—Oh! Um, Sawa. Hi. What is- _He paused.

_WHAT IS WHAT?! _Sawa mentally demanded.

_You're wearing your bikini._

_Um, yeah. _Sawa blushed. _Problem?_

_Nope, none at all__~. _Even from this far away, Sawa could see his trademark smirk. _You at the pool to show off to me? _

_I'd rather sleep with Julius, _Sawa snapped, and walked up to the side of the pool.

Ace went back to swimming laps, and Sawa quickly assessed the scene.

Ace was swimming laps, as he usually was when he was at the pool. He kept switching his stroke, but Sawa saw that he mainly stuck to backstroke. _Huh. Well, I hope be bumps his head on the wall. _

Paige was sitting by the side of the pool, reading a book. Sawa couldn't see what book it was, and she didn't care. Paige looked up, and noticed Sawa. She waved, and smiled. _Ugh. Can't you see that I hate you? No? No. Stupid naïve Outsider. _

Paige went back to reading her book…. Wait… No… Staring at Ace.

_Go figure._

Sawa glared at the Outsider, thinking death thoughts.

After a while, Paige looked up at Sawa again, and noticed her staring.

_Yes, you idiot, notice me._

Paige blushed slightly and looked down again. Sawa continued glaring.

After a while, Paige closed her book and marched up to Sawa.

'Why are you glaring at me?' She demanded.

'Because Ace let you borrow my clothes, more specifically, my bikini.' Came the retort.

Paige blinked a few times, and suddenly noticed exactly what Sawa was wearing.

'Oh, that was yours?'

'DAMN RIGHT IT'S MINE!' Sawa scowled. 'Why the _hell _are you so surprised?'

'I didn't think he would do that!'

'Well you've underestimated him!'

'He can be nice, and considerate!'

'No he can't!'

Page sighed, walking back to her book. 'I'm not arguing with you about this, because you're _obviously _still stupid enough not to realize who he could be if you let him.'

Sawa let out a growl and marched up to the Outsider. 'I'm not stupid! He'll ditch you after this, I bet you!'

Paige raised an eyebrow. 'Oh yeah? Bet what?'

Sawa frowned. 'I don't really know; there's not much left for me to lose.'

'There is,' Paige told the Squire, not bothering to even look up at her. 'Oh, there is. You have yet to admit that Ace can be kind. There's your pride, dignity, and sanity. There are many, many things.'

Sawa snorted. 'I've lost more than you can fathom, my girl; and haven't you noticed? We're all mad here~'

Paige closed her book with a soft _thud, _and Sawa now saw the title - _The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. _Sawa would have commented, but before she could do so, Paige spoke.

'Well then. I'm sure that little secret of yours is of great importance.'

Sawa paused; and, for half a second, Paige thought saw fear flashed through the Squire of Hearts' eyes...

* * *

**Laaaaa la la-la la-la la-la, write a really really short chapteeeerrrrr that's long overdue~!**

**And the stupid thing is that Part 2 is probably gonna be 2,000 words long, compared to this silly 600. **

**mAYBE THEY'LL BE A PART 3**

**YES, AUTHOR-SAN IS VERY SMART**

**vERY VERY SMART**

***CoUGh* **

**So um yeah look out for part 3. **


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